REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION

ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2017

In accordance with Article 10(2) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (the ‘Comitology Regulation’), the Commission hereby presents the annual report on the working of committees for 2017.

This report gives an overview of developments in the comitology system in 2017 and a summary of the committees’ activities. It is accompanied by a staff working document containing detailed statistics on the work of the individual committees.

1.Overview of developments in the comitology system in 2017

1.1.General development

As described in the 2013 annnual report , all comitology procedures provided for in the ‘old’ Comitology Decision , with the exception of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, were automatically adapted to the new comitology procedures provided for in the Comitology Regulation (Regulation (EU) 182/2011).

In 2017, the comitology committees were therefore operating under the procedures set out in the Comitology Regulation, i.e. advisory (Article 4) and examination (Article 5), as well as under the regulatory procedure with scrutiny set out in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision.

The Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 recalls the need to align the regulatory procedure with scrutiny:

"The three institutions acknowledge the need for the alignment of all existing legislation to the legal framework introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, and in particular the need to give high priority to the prompt alignment of all basic acts which still refer to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. The Commission will propose that latter alignment by the end of 2016."

In line with this commitment, the Commission adopted a new proposal for the alignment of the basic acts providing for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to delegated and implementing acts. It also adopted a second proposal, dealing specifically with the alignment of basic acts in the field of justice. The interinstitutional negotiations on both files are ongoing. The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted its report on the proposal and received a mandate to enter into negotiations. The Council adopted its General Approach on 20 March 2018.

The Commission on 26 February 2016 adopted a Report on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 182/2011. In this report, the Commission concluded that the overall legal framework for comitology is functioning well. However, it also pointed at the time to the political problem of "no opinion" outcomes especially in a few very sensitive areas such as the authorisation of genetically modified organisms. Therefore and notably in light of experiences with the authorisation procedure for glyphosate, President Juncker in his State of the Union address in September 2016 announced a Commission initiative to address this problem and to increase accountability, responsibility and transparency on the side of Member States when voting in committee, and in particular in the appeal committee. Subsequently, the Commission on 14 February 2017 adopted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (COM(2017) 85 final). This proposal puts forward a number of targeted changes to the functioning of the appeal committee to address no opinion situations in sensitive areas. The interinstitutional negotiations on this file are ongoing.

Negotiations between the three institutions are also ongoing on non-binding criteria for the application of Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, so the delineation between delegated and implementing acts.

In its Communication “Better regulation for better results” of May 2015, the Commission committed that draft texts for delegated acts and drafts for important implementing acts will be made public for a four week feedback period, allowing stakeholders to submit comments. In 2017, 165 such draft acts were published for public feedback on the Commission's "Have your say" website.

1.2.Development of case law

In its judgment of 20 September 2017 in Case C-183/16 (Tilly Sabco), the Court of Justice underlined the need to respect the timeframes for the submission of draft implementing acts to the committee ahead of the vote and to only deviate in well justified cases. In line with Article 3(3) of Regulation 182/2011 the chair has to submit the draft agenda and the draft implementing act to the committee not less than 14 calendar days before the meeting. The time limit for submission can be shortened in exceptional cases. This possibility is further detailed in the Standard Rules of Procedure for committees, on the basis of which committees adopt their rules of procedure. The chair can also set a time limit for the committee to deliver its opinion on the draft. The time limits have to be proportionate and afford the committee members early and effective opportunities to examine the draft and express their views.

2.Overview of activities

2.1.Number of committees and meetings

It is important to distinguish between the comitology committees on the one hand, and other entities, in particular ‘expert groups’ created by the Commission itself, on the other. The latter provide expertise to the Commission in preparing and implementing policy as well as delegated acts, whereas comitology committees assist the Commission in the exercise of the implementing powers that have been conferred upon it by basic legal acts. This report focuses exclusively on comitology committees. The number of active comitology committees in the period 1 January to 31 December 2017 was calculated by sector of activity (see Table I). The figures for the previous year (on 31 December 2016) are also given for purposes of comparison. Sections and configurations are not counted separately as these belong to a parent committee.