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Comitology

In accordance with Article 202 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (ECT), it is for the Commission to implement legislation at Community level. In practice, each legislative instrument specifies the scope of the implementing powers conferred on the Commission by the Council of the European Union. In this context, the Treaty provides for the Commission to be assisted by a committee, in line with a procedure known as "comitology".

The committees are forums for discussion, consist of representatives from Member States and are chaired by the Commission. They enable the Commission to establish a dialogue with national administrations before adopting implementing measures. The Commission ensures that measures reflect as far as possible the situation in each of the countries concerned.

Relations between the Commission and the committees are based on models set out in a Council Decision (the "Comitology Decision"), which gives Parliament the right to monitor the implementation of legislative instruments adopted under the codecision procedure. Parliament can object to measures proposed by the Commission or, as the case may be, the Council if it considers them to beultra vires.

The following categories of committee can be distinguished, according to how they operate:

• Advisory committees: these give their opinions to the Commission, which must try to take account of them.
• Management committees: if the measures adopted by the Commission are not in accordance with the committee's opinion, the Commission must refer them to the Council, which, within a period laid down by the basic act, may adopt a different decision by a qualified majority.
• Regulatory committees: if the measures envisaged by the Commission are not in accordance with the committee's opinion, the Commission must refer them to the Council and, for information, to the European Parliament. The Council may give its agreement by a qualified majority or introduce an amendment by unanimity, within a period laid down by the basic act, which may not exceed three months. If the Council does not take a decision, the Commission draws up implementing measures, unless the Council opposes this by a qualified majority. In the latter case the Commission may submit an amended proposal or a new proposal or may re‑submit the same proposal.
• Regulatory committees with scrutiny: these must allow the Council and the European Parliament to carry out a check prior to the adoption of measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of an act adopted by codecision. In the event of clear opposition on the part of one of these institutions (absolute majority of MEPs or qualified majority at the Council), the Commission must either adopt the proposed measure, including any amendments to take account of the comments made, or present a legislative proposal to be submitted for the codecision procedure.

The Council Decision of 28 June 1999 replaced that of 13 July 1987, simplifying the system and taking account of the new codecision procedure (which gives Parliament the right to intervene). It also made the committee system more transparent to Parliament and the general public. Committee documents are more easily accessible to citizens and are recorded in a public register. Parliament is also generally informed about the work of the committees.

The 1999 Decision was replaced by a new decision adopted in July 2006 which introduced a new procedure for exercising implementation powers: the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. The idea of this new procedure is to place the two branches of the legislative power on an equal footing, at least in matters subject to codecision, as regards monitoring how the Commission exercises the implementation powers conferred on it.

See:

• Codecision procedure
• Committees and working parties
• Council of the European Union
• European Commission