The necessity to create a hemispheric parliamentary organization became apparent at the first Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, Florida, US, in December 1994.
Since its creation, COPA has been an observer and participant at every subsequent Summit of the Americas: Santiago, Chile; Quebec City, Canada; and Mar del Plata, Argentina.
COPA's membership includes all national and sub-national (provincial, state and territorial) parliamentarians or legislators from every country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba.
COPA operates in four languages, Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.
For the first time since the II Conference in 2000, COPA's Executive Committee is scheduled to meet in the United States in late June (Los Angeles, California).[when?]