The accession of Poland to the Council of Europe stirred demand for information about the acquis of the Organisation, its activities, European legal standards, the role of the European Court of Human Rights and its jurisprudence.

This was a great challenge bearing in mind that the Council of Europe had at that time neither diplomatic representations, nor other offices able to perform the task. In that context, following the proposal of Jean-Louis Laurens, the initiator of the pan-European assistance programme Demosthenes, the Directorate of Political Affairs of the Council of Europe decided to set up an expert centre responsible for drafting opinions and organising debates on local democracy. It was believed with good reason that this area of involvement of the state and society required additional support and participation of experts assigned by the Council of Europe. One of the obstacles in this venture concerned the possible financing of the centre.

The representatives of the Geneva Canton offered financial assistance which enabled the Information and Documentation Centre on the Council of Europe to be opened on 14 March 1990. Professor Andrzej Wieczorkiewicz, the then member of the Polish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (the delegation enjoyed special guest status), suggested to the Directorate of Political Affairs to incorporate the Centre into the Warsaw University structure.A report submitted by the EEC and European Research Centre (the former name of the Warsaw University Centre for Europe) to the Committee of Ministers in May 1991 defined the role of the Information Centre on the Council of Europe as one involving the promotion of the Council of Europe among the general public; the co-operation with governmental and non-governmental organisations, local authorities and universities; giving access to documents of the Council of Europe; and keeping the Polish media informed about the work of the Council of Europe.

Since 1 October 1991, the Centre has been affiliated with the Warsaw University Centre for Europe. In setting up the Information and Documentation Centre, the Council of Europe had no practical experience to draw upon. Therefore, the task of bridging the information gap in many areas of the Council of Europeís activity was indeed daring, bearing in mind that the newly established institution acted under the Warsaw University structure, being at the same time supervised by the Directorate of Political Affairs of the Council of Europe.

General guidelines for the work of the Information and Documentation Centre stressed an urgent need to involve the Centre in the information policy of the Council of Europe. It was the responsibility of the Centre to organise various ventures aimed at providing the general public with broad information on the activities of the Council of Europe.