Report from the Commission on the working of committees during 2003 {SEC(2004)1722}
Date: 2005-01-07
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, activity report, comitology, committee (EU)

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 07.01.2005 
COM(2004) 860 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the working of committees during 2003 

{SEC(2004)1722} 

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1. 

GENERAL COMMENTS REGARDING THE COMITOLOGY SYSTEM 

The  present  report  covers  the  activities  of  comitology  committees  during  the  year  2003.  It 
follows  the  basic  structure  of  the  previous  report  covering  the  year  2002.  It  contains  an 
introductory  Section  1,  a  horizontal  overview  of  committees’  activities  in  Section  2  and  an 
Annex  with  detailed  statistics  regarding  the  individual  comitology  committees,  organised 
according  to  the  different  departments  of  the  Commission.1  This  report  maintains  the 
improved  transparency  of  the  statistics  in  the  Annex  by  listing  all  committees  individually 
together with textual comments on their activities. 

1.1 

The legal nature and role of the comitology committees 

The  purpose  of  the  comitology  committees  is  to  assist  the  Commission  in  exercising  the 
implementing  powers  conferred  upon  it  by  the  legislator,  i.e.  the  Council  and  the  European 
Parliament. The comitology committees share three essential features. 

First,  they  are  created  by  the  legislator  (the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament)  in 
accordance  with  the  “legislative”  procedures  in  force  at  the  time  of  adoption  of  the  basic 
instrument under which they are established, namely the co-operation or advisory procedures 
and,  since  the  Maastricht  Treaty,  the  codecision  procedure.  Hence,  the  legal  basis  of  the 
comitology committees is enshrined in a so-called “basic instrument”. 

Second,  their  structure  and  working  methods  are  in  several  respects  standardised.  A 
representative  of  the  Commission  chairs  each  committee,  which  consists  of  Member  State 
representatives;  these  are  the  only  “members”  of  the  committees.  The  committees  intervene 
within  the  framework  of  the  procedures  set  out  in  the  basic  legislative  instrument,  in 
compliance with the Council’s comitology decision. 

Article 9 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC2 repeals the old comitology Decision 87/373/EEC 
of 13 July 1987 (the 1987 Comitology Decision).3 The 1987 procedures remained temporarily 
in force until the amendment of the basic legislative instruments, in line with the comitology 
procedures  pursuant  to  Decision  1999/468/EC.  This  has  been  achieved  either  by  individual 
amendment acts or by the “alignment regulations” (see Section 1.2). 

Third, the committees deliver opinions on draft implementing measures submitted to them by 
the  Commission  pursuant  to  the  basic  legislative  instrument  and  intervene  within  the 
framework of the advisory procedure, the management procedure or the regulatory procedure 
provided for that purpose. 

Pursuant to Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC, the management procedure should be 
reserved  for  management  measures  such  as  those  relating to  the application of the common 
agricultural  and  common  fisheries  policy  or  to  the  implementation  of  programmes  with 
substantial budgetary implications (Article 2(a)). The regulatory procedure is prescribed in the 
case of measures of general scope designed to apply essential provisions of basic instruments, 
including  measures  concerning  the  protection  of  the  health  or  safety  of  humans,  animals  or 

1 
2 
3 

The Annex is presented as a Commission staff working paper. 
OJ L 184, 17.07.1999, p. 23. 
OJ L 197, 18.07.1987, p. 33. 

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plants  and  in  updating  the  “technical”  elements  of  a  basic  instrument  (Article  2(b)).  The 
advisory procedure is applied wherever it is considered to be the most appropriate. 

1.2 

The state of implementation of Decision 1999/468/EC 

In  Declaration  No 2  on  the  implementation  of  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC,4  the  Council 
and  the  Commission  agreed  to  adapt,  as  soon  as  possible,  and  in  compliance  with  the 
appropriate  legislative  procedures,  the  provisions  governing  the  committees  assisting  the 
Commission in the exercise of its implementing powers under Decision 87/373/EEC so as to 
bring them into line with the provisions of Articles 3 to 6 of Decision 1999/468/EC. 

Since the entry into force of Decision 1999/468/EC, the committee procedures of a number of 
basic instruments have been updated on a case-by-case basis. In order to complete the update, 
at  the  end  of  2001  the  Commission  presented  a  package  of  four  proposals  (the  so-called 
“alignment  regulations”),5  covering  more  than  300  basic  instruments  laying  down 
implementing  procedures.  The  Council  and  the  Parliament  adopted  the  “alignment 
regulations”  in  the  course  of  20036  in  accordance  with  the  relevant  legislative  procedures 
(assent  procedure,  codecision  procedure  and  consultation  procedure  with  qualified  majority 
and  unanimity).  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  alignment  acts  do  not  affect  the  substantive 
provisions of the legislative acts, nor do they affect the safeguard procedures or the identity of 
the committees provided for by the basic legal acts.  

As  an  important  new  element,  Article  7  of  Decision  1999/468/EC,  and  Council  and 
Commission  statements  relating  to  that  provision  (notably  statements  Nos  4  and  5),  put  in 
place  measures  designed  to  improve  the  transparency  of  the  working  of  the  comitology 
committees. 

In this respect, publication of the present annual report on the working of the committees, as 
provided for in Article 7(4), is in itself a significant contribution towards shedding light on the 
Commission’s activities in terms of exercising its implementing powers. 

Also,  in  compliance  with  Article  7(4),  the  Commission  has  published  a  list  of  all  the 
committees  which  help  it  exercise  these  implementing  powers.7  A  continuously  updated 
inventory of existing committees can be consulted in the register (see below) and the annual 
reports. 

4 
5 
6 

7 

instruments  adopted 

OJ C 203, 17.07.1999, p. 1. 
COM(2001) 789 final, adopted on 27.12.2001. 
Council  Regulations  (EC)  No  806/2003  (OJ  L  122,  16.05.2003,  p.  1)  and  No  807/2003  (OJ  L  122, 
16.05.2003,  p.  36)  of  14.4.2003  adapting  to  Decision  1999/468/EC  the  provisions  relating  to 
committees  which  assist  the  Commission  in  the  exercise  of  its  implementing  powers  laid  down  in 
(qualified 
Council 
majority/unanimity), Council Regulation (EC) No 1105/2003 (OJ L 158, 27.06.2003, p. 3) of 26.5.2003 
amending  Regulation  (EC)  No  1260/1999  laying  down  general  provisions  on  the  Structural  Funds 
(assent procedure) and Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
(OJ  L  284,  31.10.2003,  p.  1)  of  29.9.2003  adapting  to  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC  the  provisions 
relating  to  committees  which  assist  the  Commission  in  the  exercise  of  its  implementing  powers  laid 
down in instruments subject to the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the EC Treaty (codecision). 
OJ C 225, 08.08.2000, p. 2. 

the  consultation  procedure 

in  accordance  with 

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On 31 January 2001, in compliance with Article 7(1), the Commission adopted the standard 
rules of procedure8 on the basis of which the existing or newly created committees draw up 
their rules of procedure. The Commission intends to adopt an updated version of the standard 
rules of procedure, mainly to bring them into line with the new rules on access to documents 
(see below). By the end of 2003, 94 of the total of 263 committees had adopted internal rules 
of procedure based on the standard text in force. 

Finally, Article 7(5) of Decision 1999/468/EC provides that the Commission has to publish a 
register  giving  the  references  of  all  documents  sent  to  the  European  Parliament  under 
comitology procedures. This register has been in operation since December 2003.9 According 
to its statement (No 5) on Council Decision 1999/468/EC, the Commission added a repository 
to the register as an additional transparency measure, making many documents communicated 
to  the  European  Parliament  directly  available  to  the  public  in  accordance  with  Regulation 
(EC)  No  1049/2001  of  the  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  regarding  public  access  to  the 
institutions’  documents.10  which  came  into  effect  on  3  December  2001.  The  repository 
contains agendas, summary records and voting results of the committee meetings and work; 
draft implementing measures are provisionally not published. 

1.3 

The European Parliament’s right of scrutiny 

The  Commission  is  obliged  to  inform  the  European  Parliament  about  the  work  of  the 
committees  and  to  send  it  all  draft  implementing  measures  pursuant  to  a  basic  instrument 
adopted  under  Article  251  of  the  Treaty  (codecision),  so  that  the  European  Parliament  can 
exercise its right of scrutiny enshrined in Article 8 of Decision 1999/468/EC. 

In February 2000, the European Parliament and the Commission concluded an Agreement on 
procedures  for  implementing  Council  Decision  1999/468/EC,  designed  specifically  to 
regulate the procedures for implementing the obligations incumbent on the Commission.11 

The  agreement  provides  for  the  electronic  transmission  of  documents,  a  task  which  was 
the  various  Commission 
implemented  progressively  during  2001.  Documents  from 
departments  are  first  transmitted  to  the  Secretariat-General  of  the  Commission,  which 
promptly dispatches them to a central service at the European Parliament. Today practically 
all documents are transmitted electronically. 

Except  in  emergencies,  the  agreement  stipulates  a  period  of  one  month  from  receipt  of  a 
“definitive”  draft  implementing  measure12  under  a  legal  act  adopted  through  codecision  to 
allow the European Parliament, where appropriate, to adopt a resolution (in plenary session), 

8 

9 

10 
11 

12 

OJ C 38, 06.02.2001, p. 3. Following a number of amendments to be approved by the Commission and 
linguistic review, the standard rules of procedure will be published afresh in the Official Journal. 
See  the  Internet  address:  http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/regcomito/registre.cfm?CL=en 
The register covers documents as of the beginning of 2003. 
OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43. 
OJ  L  256,  10.10.2000,  p. 19.  The  agreement  replaces  certain  earlier  agreements:  the  Plumb/Delors 
Agreement of 1988, the Samland/Williamson Agreement of 1996 and the “modus vivendi” of 1994. 
The drafts are first sent before the committee meeting and, if they are substantially amended during the 
meeting, again afterwards.  

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pursuant to Article 8 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC, if it considers that the draft measure 
exceeds the implementing powers enshrined in the basic instrument.13 

The  bilateral  agreement  of  February  2000  was  implemented  by  a  further  administrative 
agreement between the Secretariats General of the European Parliament and the Commission, 
dated 14 December 2001. This administrative agreement is intended to ensure a harmonised 
approach by the departments of the Commission so that all the Commission obligations under 
the bilateral agreement of February  2000 are properly fulfilled. In particular, it  provides for 
minimum  standards  with  regard  to  the  types  of  documents  and  their  structure.  It  is  worth 
noting  that  during  2003  there  were  again  no  cases  reported  where  the  European  Parliament 
felt the need to adopt a resolution based on Article 8 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC. 

1.4 

Referrals to the Council 

No  case  of  referrals  to  the  Council  was  reported  in  2003.  Pursuant  to  Council  Decision 
1999/468/EC, draft measures must be referred to the Council when the Commission fails to 
obtain the necessary majority under the regulatory procedure or faces an opposing qualified 
majority under the management procedure. The absence of referrals (and in previous years the 
small percentages of less than 1 % compared with the total number of instruments adopted by 
the Commission under the management or regulatory procedure) shows that the work of the 
committees  under  the  current  system  results  in  a  high  degree  of  consensus  and  that  the 
proposals by the Commission representatives are normally approved by the committees. 

1.5 

Wider developments 

In December 2002, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a revised regulatory 
procedure14 for measures designed to widely implement the essential aspects or adapt certain 
other aspects of basic acts adopted under the codecision procedure (Article 251 of the Treaty). 
This  proposed  new  procedure  places  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  an  equal 
footing in supervising the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers. On 2 September 
2003,  the  European  Parliament  broadly  endorsed  the  Commission’s  proposal,15  while 
suggesting  a  very  limited  number  of  technical  amendments.  On  22  April  2004,  the 
Commission  issued  an  amended  proposal16  to  take  on  board  the  bulk  of  the  European 
Parliament’s amendment, and clarify the new procedure. The amended proposal is currently 
under examination in the Council. 

The  Convention  on  the  Future  of  Europe  proposed  to  the  Intergovernmental  Conference 
(IGC)  in  its  draft  Constitutional  Treaty  to  reorganise  the  executive  powers  of  the 
Commission.17 The Convention’s draft introduces the instrument of “delegated” regulations to 
be  adopted  by  the  Commission  in  order  to  supplement  or  amend  certain  “non-essential” 
elements  of  the  European  laws  under  the  control  of  the  Parliament  and  the  Council,  which 
may  revoke  the  delegation  itself  or  object  to  a  specific  draft  regulation;  these  delegated 

13 

14 

15 
16 
17 

This basic instrument must itself have been adopted under the codecision procedure (Article 251 of the 
Treaty) between the Council and the European Parliament. 
Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the 
exercise  of  implementing  powers  conferred  on  the  Commission  (COM  (2002)  719  final,  adopted 
11.12.2002. 
Resolution adopted on 2.9.2003 (P5-TA(2003)0352), based on the report of R. CORBETT. 
COM (2004) 324 final, dated 22.4.2004. 
Draft  Treaty  establishing  a  Constitution  for  Europe,  submitted  to  the  European  Council  meeting  in 
Thessaloniki, 20.6.2003, Articles I-35 and I-36. 

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regulations  are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  mere  implementing  acts  that  the  Commission 
mainly will adopt under some control by the Member States. The text remained unchanged in 
the final version adopted by the Intergovernmental Conference at the meeting of the European 
Council 17/18 June 2004.18 

The  enlargement  of  the  European  Union  took  place  on  1 May  2004.  Following  the 
Conclusions  of  the  Copenhagen  Summit  of  December  2002,  on  25  February  2003  the 
Commission  adopted  measures19  granting  active  observer  status  to  the  ten  acceding  states, 
which  applied  from  the  day  following  the  signature  of  the  Accession  Treaty  on  16  April 
2003.20  Under  this  arrangement,  representatives  of  the  acceding  states  were  invited  to  most 
comitology  committees;  they  had  the  possibility  of  expressing  their  views  on  the  issues 
discussed  in  the  meetings  but  no  right  to  take  part  in  the  voting  on  draft  implementing 
measures.  For  the  remaining  three  candidate  countries  (Bulgaria,  Romania  and  Turkey),  the 
participation  continued  to  be  organised  on  the  basis  of  the  “Communication  from  the 
Commission  to  the  Council  on  the  participation  of  candidate  countries  in  Community 
programmes, agencies and committees”.21 In the course of the reporting year, the ten acceding 
states were represented in approximately 186 of the total of 256 committees. 

2. 

HORIZONTAL OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES 

2.1 

Number of committees and types of procedures 

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  hand. 
The  latter  are  concerned  with  preparing  and  carrying  out  policies,  whereas  the  comitology 
committees  are  involved  in  the  context  of  implementing  legislative  acts.  The  present  report 
focuses  exclusively  on  comitology  committees.  The  number  of  comitology  committees  has 
been calculated by sector of activity (Table I) as at 31.12.2003. The figures for the previous 
year (status as at 31.12.2002) are given for comparison. 

TABLE I – TOTAL NUMBER OF COMMITTEES 

Policy Sector  

Enterprise (ENTR) 

Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) 

Agriculture (AGRI) 

Transport/Energy/Trans-European Networks (TREN) 

2002 

2003 

31 

8 

29 

39 

33 

8 

30 

45 

18 

19 
20 

21 

See  Provisional  consolidated  version  of  the  draft  Treaty  establishing  a  Constitution  for  Europe, 
document CIG 86/04, dated 25.6.2004. 
Commission Document C(2003)341/3. 
TOWARDS  THE  ENLARGED  UNION,  Strategy  Paper and  Report  of  the  European Commission  on 
the progress towards accession by each of the candidate countries (9.10.2002), COM(2002) 700 final, 
see point 3.3 (p. 25). 
COM (1999) 710 final, adopted 20.12.1999. 

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Environment (ENV) 

Research (RTD) 

Information Society (INFSO) 

Fisheries (FISH) 

Internal Market (MARKT) 

Regional Policy (REGIO) 

Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD) 

Education and Culture (EAC) 

Health and Consumer Protection (SANCO) 

Justice and Home Affairs (JAI) 

External Relations (RELEX) 

Trade (TRADE) 

Enlargement (ELARG) 

Europe Aid (AIDCO) 

Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) 

Statistics (ESTAT) 

Budget (BUDG) 

Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) 

TOTAL 

35 

8 

13 

3 

11 

2 

9 

6 

22 

7 

2 

12 

2 

8 

1 

6 

1 

1 

35 

2 

13 

3 

12 

2 

9 

7 

13* 

7 

3 

13 

2 

8 

1 

7 

2 

1 

256 

256 

The  figures  indicate  the  relative  importance  of  comitology  in  the  activities  in  the  different 
policy sectors. Transport/Energy (45), Environment (35), Enterprise (33) and Agriculture (30) 
have  the  largest  number  of  committees.  With  143  out  of  a  total  of  256  committees,  these 
policy sectors alone account for more than half of the committees. The Commission continues 
its  efforts  to  minimise  the  growth  in  the  number  of  committees.  Thus,  the  number  of 
committees in 2003 is stable, compared with 2002. Whilst the legislator in some policy areas 
with  increased  activities  (notably  in  the  area  of  Transport  and  Energy)  has  established  new 
committees,  in  other  policy  sectors  the  number  has  decreased  as  a  consequence  of  the 

* 

Unlike the previous year, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Welfare with its nine 
sections  and  subsections  is  counted  as  one  single  committee,  following  the  coming  into  force  of 
regulation No 178/2002, OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1. 

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restructuring of the legal framework (see, for example, Health and Consumer Protection and 
Research). 

The comitology committees can be classified according to the type of procedure under which 
they  operate  (advisory  procedure,  management  procedure,  regulatory  procedure,  and 
safeguard  procedure  -  see  Table  II).  For  part  of  the  year  2003,  the  1987  comitology 
procedures  continued  to  apply  until  the  entry  into  force  of  the  “alignment  regulations”  (see 
Section 1.2 above). The different variants vis-à-vis the 1987 comitology procedures (IIa and 
IIb,  IIIa  and  IIIb)  are  counted  together  with  the  corresponding  new  types  of  procedures  as 
prescribed in Declaration No 2 on the implementation of Council Decision 1999/468/EC.22 

Since certain committees apply multiple procedures (ranging from the advisory procedure to 
the regulatory procedure, plus the safeguard procedure), they have been singled out from the 
committees operating according to a unique procedure. 

TABLE II – NUMBER OF COMMITTEES BY PROCEDURE (2003) 

Type of procedure 

Committees operating 
under several procedures 

Advisory∗  Management∗  Regulatory∗ 

Safeguard 

ENTR 

EMPL 

AGRI 

TREN 

ENV 

RTD 

INFSO 

FISH 

MARKT 

REGIO 

TAXUD 

EAC 

SANCO 

9 

1 

- 

7 

3 

- 

1 

2 

- 

1 

1 

1 

4 

- 

23 

12 

6 

1 

3 

1 

4 

1 

4 

- 

- 

18 

3 

4 

21 

26 

- 

3 

- 

6 

- 

4 

- 

7 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

2 

4 

3 

4 

- 

1 

6 

2 

- 

1 

- 

6 

5 

22 

OJ C 203, 17.07.1999, p. 1. This means: Variant I together with the advisory procedure, variants IIa and 
IIb  together  with  the  management  procedure  and  variants  IIIa  and  IIIb  together  with  the  regulatory 
procedure. 

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JAI 

RELEX 

TRADE 

ELARG 

AIDCO 
DEV) 

(incl. 

ECHO 

ESTAT 

BUDG 

OLAF 

1 

1 

2 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

1 

3 

1 

6 

- 

4 

- 

- 

1 

- 

2 

- 

2 

- 

1 

1 

1 

TOTAL 

31 

74 

100 

- 

- 

- 

1 

- 

- 

- 

- 

- 

2 

5 

1 

6 

- 

- 

1 

2 

- 

- 

49 

∗ 

Including, respectively, procedures I, II and III in accordance with Council Decision 87/373/EC 

The  figures  indicate  that  nearly  half  of  the  committees  (100  out  of  256)  work  exclusively 
under  the  regulatory  procedure,  followed  by  a  considerably  smaller  number  of  committees 
working exclusively under the management procedure (74). The breakdown by policy sector 
shows that the use of the three types of procedures varies from policy sector to policy sector. 
However, in some  of the policy sectors,  a  clear dominance  of one of the procedures can be 
noted:  Transport/Energy  and  Environment  work  with  a  large  number  of  committees 
functioning under the regulatory procedure, whereas Agriculture works with a large number 
of committees functioning under the management procedure. 

2.2 

Number of meetings 

The  number  of  committees  is  not  the  only  indicator  of  activity  at  comitology  level.  The 
number of meetings held in 2003 reflects the intensity of work in general, at sector level and 
in individual committees (Table III). 

TABLE III – NUMBER OF MEETINGS 

ENTR 

EMPL 

AGRI 

TREN  

ENV 

2002 

2003 

2002 

2003 

44 

17 

352 

23 

49 

59 

17 

EAC 

SANCO 

322 

JAI 

44 

54 

RELEX 

TRADE 

19 

109 

28 

1 

37 

23 

101 

21 

5 

32 

EN 

9 

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RTD 

INFSO 

FISH 

MARKT 

REGIO 

46 

36 

25 

25 

12 

50 

31 

25 

38 

12 

ELARG 

AIDCO  

ECHO 

ESTAT 

BUDG 

TAXUD 

106 

113 

OLAF 

7 

40 

10 

15 

5 

1 

8 

35 

10 

17 

6 

1 

As  in  2002,  Agriculture  leads  the  field  (with  322  meetings),  since  managing  the  different 
agricultural  markets  requires  frequent  meetings.  It  is  followed  by  Taxation  and  Customs 
Union (with 113 meetings) and Health and Consumer Protection (with 101 meetings) - which 
is  responsible,  among  other  things,  for  food  safety  -  and  a  group  of  other  sectors,  like 
Enterprise, Environment and Research, where the number of meetings is in the range of 50 to 
70.  

2.3 

Number of opinions and instruments 

As  introduced  in  the  previous  report,  the  present  report  gives  global  figures  on  the  formal 
opinions  delivered  by  the  committees23  and  the  subsequent  instruments  (i.  e.  implementing 
measures  =  legal  acts,  administrative  decisions)  adopted  by  the  Commission.  These  figures 
describe  the  concrete  “output”  of  the  committees  (Table  IV).  The  total  number  of  opinions 
delivered by the committees in 2003 was 2.981 (compared to 3.610 in 2002); the number of 
instruments  adopted  by  the  Commission  was  2.768  (compared  to  3.077  in  2002).  Both 
indicators  show  that  there  was  quantitatively  a  somewhat  less  important  “output”  in  the 
reporting year, compared to the previous period. 

TABLE IV – NUMBER OF OPINIONS AND INSTRUMENTS (2003) 

Opinions 

Instruments 

Opinions 

Instruments 

ENTR 

EMPL 

AGRI 

TREN  

ENV 

RTD 

395 

16 

352 

EAC 

0 

SANCO 

1.413 

1.413 

JAI 

30 

39 

74 

24 

31 

60 

RELEX 

TRADE 

ELARG 

97 

392 

13 

4 

66 

83 

47 

392 

7 

4 

55 

90 

23 

Including favourable, unfavourable and no opinions, following a formal vote in the case of regulatory 
and management procedures. 

EN 

10 

   EN 

 
 
 
                                                 
INFSO 

FISH 

MARKT 

REGIO 

TAXUD 

34 

19 

10 

29 

34 

21 

AIDCO  

164 

153 

9 

8 

7 

ECHO 

ESTAT 

BUDG 

34 

OLAF 

42 

26 

1 

0 

42 

18 

1 

0 

The  large  number  of  instruments  adopted  in  certain  policy  sectors  -  Agriculture  (1.413), 
Health  and  Consumer  Protection  (392)  and  Enterprise  (352)  -  again  reflect  the  intensity  of 
work delegated to the Commission in these areas via the comitology procedures.24 

24 

However, it has to be noted that the sheer number of instruments adopted as such does not indicate the 
political, economic or financial importance of the decisions taken. 

EN 

11 

   EN