REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2012
Date: 2013-10-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: comitology, committee (EU), official statistics, supervisory power













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52013DC0701

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2012 /* COM/2013/0701 final */









REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION
ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2012
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[1] (the ‘Comitology Regulation’), the Commission hereby presents the
annual report on the working of committees for 2012.
This report contains an overview of
developments in the comitology system in 2012 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 2012
1.1         General development
As described in the
report from 2011[2], all comitology procedures provided for in
the ‘old’ Comitology Decision[3], with the exception of the regulatory
procedure with scrutiny (RPS), were automatically
adapted to the new comitology procedures provided for in the Comitology
Regulation. 
Therefore in 2012,
the comitology committees have been operating under the procedures set out in
the Comitology Regulation, i.e. advisory (Article 4 of the Comitology
Regulation) and examination (Article 5 of the Comitology Regulation), as well as under the
RPS set out in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision.
In accordance with the
statement[4] made at the moment of the adoption of the
Comitology Regulation that it would adapt all the RPS provisions in existing
basic acts to the criteria laid down in the Treaty, the Commission started a
preliminary screening exercise in 2012 which resulted in the adoption of the
necessary alignment proposals in 2013.
By the end of 2012, 133 comitology
committees had adopted their new individual rules of procedure on the basis of
Standard Rules of procedure for comitology committees adopted on 8 July 2011[5].
1.2         Development of case law
In its judgment of 5 September 2012 (Case
C-355/10, European Parliament v Council), the Court of Justice of the EU annulled
Council Decision 2010/252/EU[6] relating to the surveillance of the sea external borders in the
context of cooperation between Member States coordinated by FRONTEX that had
been adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny on the
basis of Article 12(5) of Regulation 562/2006[7]. The
Court found that the Decision introduced new essential elements to the basic
act, namely provisions on border surveillance in the Schengen Borders Code
(SBC).
In the Court's view, provisions dealing
with interception measures (paragraph 2.4. of Part 1 of the Annex to the Decision),
rescue and disembarkation (paragraphs 1.1. and 2.1. of Part II of the Annex to
the Decision) require political choices to be made, and this falls within the
responsibility of the EU legislature. In addition, the provisions on
interception which confer powers on border guards such as stopping persons
apprehended, seizing vessels and conducting apprehended to specific location,
mean that the fundamental rights of the persons concerned may be interfered
with to such an extent that the involvement of the EU legislature is required.
Consequently, the Court considered that
"the adoption of such provisions goes beyond the scope of the additional
measures within the meaning of Article 12(5) of the SBC and, in the context of
the European Union's institutional system, is a matter for the
legislature." Even though the Court recognised that the Decision contains
also provisions governing the practical arrangements for carrying out border
surveillance, it annulled the Decision in its entirety since it found that the
rules in Parts I and II of the Annex are connected because they relate to the
conduct of surveillance operations and rescue operations respectively. 
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[8] 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
comitology committees on 31 December 2012 was calculated by sector of
activity (see Table I). The figures for the previous year (on
31 December 2011) are also given for the purposes of comparison.
TABLE I — Total number of committees
(2012)
 Policy sector || 2012 || 2011 
 Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) || 15 || 14 
 Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) || 1 || 1 
 Budget (BUDG) || 2 || 2 
 Climate Action (CLIMA) || 4 || 4 
 Communication (COMM) || 1 || 1 
 Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) || 6 || 7 
 Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid (DEVCO) || 6 || 6 
 Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) || 1 || 1 
 Education and Culture (EAC) || 7 || 7 
 Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) || 3 || 3 
 Energy (ENER) || 16 || 15 
 Enlargement (ELARG) || 4 || 4 
 Enterprise and Industry (ENTR) || 30 || 31 
 Environment (ENV) || 31 || 31 
 Health and Consumer (SANCO) || 24 || 24 
 Home Affairs (HOME) || 11 || 11 
 Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) || 2 || 2 
 Informatics (DIGIT) || 1 || 1 
 Internal Market (MARKT) || 14 || 13 
 Justice (JUST) || 14 || 13 
 Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) || 4 || 5 
 Mobility and Transport (MOVE) || 31 || 29 
 Regional Policy (REGIO) || 1 || 1 
 Research (RTD) || 6 || 6 
 Secretariat-General (SG) || 2* || 2* 
 Service for foreign policy instruments (FPI) || 4 || 4 
 Statistics (ESTAT) || 7 || 8 
 Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD) || 11 || 11 
 Trade (TRADE) || 11 || 11 
 TOTAL: || 270 || 268 
* Including the appeal committee (for
the needs of the comitology register, the appeal committee is registered as a
committee under the responsibility of SG; in practice, it is managed by all
services concerned).
In 2012, the comitology committees could
generally be broken down according to the type of procedure under which they
operated (advisory procedure, examination procedure, regulatory procedure with
scrutiny — see Table II). Because certain committees applied multiple
procedures, they have been separated from committees operating under a single
procedure.
TABLE
II — Number of committees by procedure (2012)
   || Type of procedure ||   
 Advisory || Examination || Regulatory with scrutiny || Operates under several procedures || TOTAL: 
 AGRI ||   || 12 ||   || 3 || 15 
 BUDG || 1 || 1 ||   ||   || 2 
 CLIMA ||   ||   ||   || 4 || 4 
 CNECT ||   || 2 ||   || 4 || 6 
 COMM ||   || 1 ||   ||   || 1 
 DEVCO ||   || 5 ||   || 1 || 6 
 DIGIT ||   || 1 ||   ||   || 1 
 EAC || 1 || 2 ||   || 4 || 7 
 ECFIN || 1 ||   ||   ||   || 1 
 ECHO ||   || 1 ||   || 1 || 2 
 ELARG || 1 || 3 ||   ||   || 4 
 EMPL ||   ||   || 2 || 1 || 3 
 ENER || 2 || 8 || 1 || 5 || 16 
 ENTR || 7 || 4 || 4 || 15 || 30 
 ENV ||   || 5 || 4 || 22 || 31 
 ESTAT ||   || 2 ||   || 5 || 7 
 FPI ||   || 4 ||   ||   || 4 
 HOME || 1 || 4 ||   || 6 || 11 
 JUST || 3 || 1 || 4 || 6 || 14 
 MARE ||   || 4 ||   ||   || 4 
 MARKT ||   || 1 || 4 || 9 || 14 
 MOVE || 3 || 6 || 3 || 19 || 31 
 OLAF ||   ||   || 1 ||   || 1 
 REGIO ||   ||   ||   || 1 || 1 
 RTD ||   || 5 ||   || 1 || 6 
 SANCO || 1 || 10 || 1 || 12 || 24 
 SG ||   || 2 ||   ||   || 2 
 TAXUD || 1 || 9 ||   || 1 || 11 
 TRADE || 2 || 6 ||   || 3 || 11 
 TOTAL: || 24 || 99 || 24 || 123 || 270 
* Including the appeal committee.
The number of committees is not the only
indicator of activity at comitology level. The number of meetings held, as
well as the number of written procedures[9] used in 2012 also reflects the intensity of work in general, at
sector level and also in individual committees (Table III).
TABLE III — Number of meetings and
written procedures (2012)
   || Number of committees || Meetings || Written procedures 
 2012 || 2011 || 2012 || 2011 
 AGRI || 15 || 134 || 142 || 3 || 3 
 BUDG || 2 || 5 || 4 || 0 || 0 
 CLIMA || 4 || 16 || 14 || 0 || 0 
 CNECT || 6 || 26 || 20 || 7 || 20 
 COMM || 1 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 4 
 DEVCO || 6 || 24 || 17 || 28 || 55 
 DIGIT || 1 || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 
 EAC || 7 || 14 || 18 || 53 || 52 
 ECFIN || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 
 ECHO || 2 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 12 
 ELARG || 4 || 5 || 8 || 22 || 12 
 EMPL || 3 || 2 || 3 || 6 || 9 
 ENER || 16 || 27 || 13 || 9 || 2 
 ENTR || 30 || 51 || 56 || 25 || 32 
 ENV || 31 || 46 || 41 || 14 || 16 
 ESTAT || 7 || 12 || 14 || 6 || 6 
 FPI || 4 || 7 || 4 || 7 || 3 
 HOME || 11 || 31 || 24 || 40 || 27 
 JUST || 14 || 7 || 6 || 18 || 15 
 MARE || 4 || 11 || 9 || 8 || 11 
 MARKT || 14 || 11 || 18 || 7 || 12 
 MOVE || 31 || 50 || 53 || 22 || 12 
 OLAF || 1 || 3 || 3 || 0 || 1 
 REGIO || 1 || 7 || 5 || 6 || 5 
 RTD || 6 || 56 || 61 || 227 || 201 
 SANCO || 24 || 144 || 146 || 354 || 314 
 SG || 2 || 3* || 6* || 0 || 1 
 TAXUD || 11 || 81 || 81 || 14 || 7 
 TRADE || 11 || 15 || 15 || 5 || 6 
 TOTAL: || 270 || 796 || 789 || 889 || 838 
* Including 3 meetings of the appeal
committee.
2.2         Number
of opinions and implementing acts/ measures
As with previous reports, this report provides
overall figures on the formal opinions delivered by the committees and
the subsequent implementing acts/measures adopted by the
Commission[10]. These figures quantify the tangible ‘output’ of the committees
(see Table IV). 
TABLE IV — Number of opinions and
implementing acts/measures adopted (2012)
   || Opinions || Acts adopted || Measures adopted according to RPS 
 AGRI || 250 || 231 || 2 
 BUDG || 14 || 3 || 0 
 CLIMA || 11 || 4 || 7 
 CNECT || 36 || 37 || 1 
 COMM || 3 || 3 || 0 
 DEVCO || 173 || 153 || 0 
 DIGIT || 1 || 1 || 0 
 EAC || 96 || 79 || 0 
 ECFIN || 1 || 0 || 0 
 ECHO || 8 || 7 || 0 
 ELARG || 60 || 57 || 0 
 EMPL || 6 || 6 || 0 
 ENER || 15 || 7 || 5 
 ENTR || 48 || 25 || 22 
 ENV || 58 || 27 || 30 
 ESTAT || 18 || 3 || 8 
 FPI || 12 || 12 || 0 
 HOME || 39 || 39 || 0 
 JUST || 13 || 13 || 1 
 MARE || 29 || 28 || 0 
 MARKT || 16 || 7 || 2 
 MOVE || 55 || 37 || 26 
 OLAF || 0 || 0 || 0 
 REGIO || 22 || 22 || 0 
 RTD || 237 || 233 || 0 
 SANCO || 596 || 517 || 63 
 SG || 6* || 9 || 0 
 TAXUD || 93 || 90 || 0 
 TRADE || 7 || 7 || 0 
 TOTAL: || 1 923 || 1 657 || 167 
* Including 6
opinions delivered by the appeal committee.
2.3         Meetings
of the appeal committee
The appeal
committee met 3 times during 2012, and discussed 6 draft implementing acts
altogether (in the area of health and consumer policy) which were referred by
the Commission. In all 6 cases, the appeal committee delivered no opinion and
the Commission decided to adopt these 6 implementing acts.
2.4         Use
of the Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny (RPS)
As mentioned
under 1, the RPS procedure has not been affected by the comitology reform of
2011. This procedure can no longer be used in new legislation, but it still
appears in many existing basic acts and will continue to apply under those acts
until they are aligned. In 2012, 167 measures were adopted according to the RPS
(see Table IV). The right of veto was not used. In 2011, by comparison, the
Council made use of the right of veto on draft measures in two cases and the European
Parliament did not use it at all.
TABLE V — Number of measures adopted
according to the Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny (RPS) (2012)
   || Measures adopted according to RPS || EP opposed adoption of draft measures under RPS || Council opposed adoption of draft measures under RPS 
 AGRI || 2 || 0 || 0 
 BUDG || 0 || 0 || 0 
 CLIMA || 7 || 0 || 0 
 CNECT || 1 || 0 || 0 
 COMM || 0 || 0 || 0 
 DEVCO || 0 || 0 || 0 
 DIGIT || 0 || 0 || 0 
 EAC || 0 || 0 || 0 
 ECFIN || 0 || 0 || 0 
 ECHO || 0 || 0 || 0 
 ELARG || 0 || 0 || 0 
 EMPL || 0 || 0 || 0 
 ENER || 5 || 0 || 0 
 ENTR || 22 || 0 || 0 
 ENV || 30 || 0 || 0 
 ESTAT || 8 || 0 || 0 
 FPI || 0 || 0 || 0 
 HOME || 0 || 0 || 0 
 JUST || 1 || 0 || 0 
 MARE || 0 || 0 || 0 
 MARKT || 2 || 0 || 0 
 MOVE || 26 || 0 || 0 
 OLAF || 0 || 0 || 0 
 REGIO || 0 || 0 || 0 
 RTD || 0 || 0 || 0 
 SANCO || 63 || 0 || 0 
 SG || 0 || 0 || 0 
 TAXUD || 0 || 0 || 0 
 TRADE || 0 || 0 || 0 
 TOTAL: || 167 || 0 || 0 
3.           Detailed information on
the activities of the Committees
The working document accompanying this report provides detailed information
about the work of the individual committees in 2012, broken down on the basis
of the different Commission departments concerned.
[1]               OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13.
[2]               Report from the Commission on the working of
committees during 2011, COM(2012)685 final.
[3]               Council Decision 1999/468/EC
of 28 June 1999 (OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23), as amended by Council Decision
2006/512/EC (OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 4).
[4]               This statement which was published in the Official
Journal together with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 (OJ L 55 of 28.2.2011, p. 19)
[5]               OJ C 206, 12.7.2011, p. 11.
[6]               Council Decision of 26 April 2010 supplementing the
Schengen Borders Code as regards the surveillance of the sea external borders
in the context of operational cooperation coordinated by the European Agency
for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the
Member States of the European Union, OJ L 111, 4.5.2010, p. 20-26
[7]               Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on
the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders
Code), OJ L 105, 13.4.2006, p. 1.
[8]               See for more details: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=faq.faq&aide=2
[9]               The committee voting can take place in a regular
committee meeting or, in duly justified cases, by written procedure, in
accordance with Article 3(5) of the Comitology Regulation.
[10]             It is to be noted that there can be discrepancies
between the number of opinions and the number of implementing acts/measures in
any given year. The reasons for these are explained in the introduction to the
accompanying staff working document.