Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION adopting the rules of procedure of the European Development Fund (EDF) Committee
Date: 2014-10-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Development Fund, committee (EU), rules of procedure













EUR-Lex - 52014PC0668 - EN











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52014PC0668

Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION adopting the rules of procedure of the European Development Fund (EDF) Committee /* COM/2014/0668 final - 2014/0310 (NLE) */









EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
The Internal Agreement between the
Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
Council, on the financing of European Union aid under the multi-annual
financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020, in accordance with the ACP-EU
Partnership Agreement, and on the allocation of the financial assistance for
the Overseas Countries and Territories to which part Four of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the EU applies (hereinafter referred to as ‘Internal Agreement’)
was signed on 24 and 26 June 2013. 
The Internal Agreement entered into force on
XX[1] following the
completion of the ratification process, i.e. on the first day of the second
month following the notification of the ratification by the last Member State. 
Article 8(5) of the Internal Agreement lays
down that the Council, acting unanimously, has to adopt the rules of procedure
of the EDF Committee on a proposal from the Commission. 
The draft rules of procedure for the EDF
Committee, which are enclosed with the proposal for a Council Decision, take
into account the provisions of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation, and in
particular article 14 thereof, as well as the results of the Commission's
simplification and harmonisation exercise in the area of comitology, including
the standard rules of procedure approved by the Commission as part of this
exercise[2].
The Commission therefore proposes that the
Council adopt the attached Decision.
2014/0310 (NLE)
Proposal for a
COUNCIL DECISION
adopting the rules of procedure of the
European Development Fund (EDF) Committee
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union, 
Having regard to the Internal Agreement
between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the
European Union, meeting within the Council, on the financing of European Union
aid under the multiannual financial framework for the period 2014 to 2020, in
accordance with the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, and on the allocation of
financial assistance for the Overseas Countries and Territories to which Part
Four of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union applies[3] (‘the
Internal Agreement’),
Having regard to Council Regulation XX on
the implementation of the 11th European Development Fund (‘the 11th EDF
Implementation Regulation’)[4],
Having regard to Council Decision
2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013 on the association of the Overseas Countries
and Territories (OCTs) with the European Union[5]
(‘Overseas Association Decision’),
Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 
Article 1
The rules of procedure of the European
Development Fund Committee, as set out in the Annex, are hereby adopted.
Article 2
This Decision shall enter into force on the
day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Brussels,
                                                                       For
the Council
                                                                       The
President
[1]               Insert date of entry into force of the 11th
EDF Internal Agreement
[2]               Regulation 182/2011 of 16 February 2011 (OJ L55,
28.2.2011, p.13) ; standard rules of procedure (OJ C 206, 12.7.2011, p. 11)
[3]               OJ L 210,
6.8.2013, p. 1
[4]               Insert reference of the 11th EDF Implementation
Regulation
[5]               OJ L 344 of 19.12.2013, p.1
ANNEX
to the
Proposal for a
COUNCIL DECISION
adopting the rules of procedure of
the European Development Fund (EDF) Committee

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT FUND COMMITTEE

Article 1
Composition
The European Development Fund Committee (the
Committee) shall comprise the delegations of the Member States (the
delegations) and shall be chaired by a representative of the Commission.
An observer from the European Investment Bank
(EIB) shall take part in the Committee's proceedings with regard to questions
concerning the EIB.
A representative of the General Secretariat of
the Council shall attend the meetings as an observer.
Article 2
Referral
to the Committee
A referral shall be made to the Committee in
the cases and according to the procedures laid down in the 11th EDF
Implementation Regulation[1] and, where appropriate, in the Overseas Association Decision. In
respect of the responsibilities conferred upon it by the Overseas Association
Decision[2], the Committee shall be referred to as the ‘EDF-OCTs Committee’
Article 3
Convening
a meeting
1.           The Committee shall be
convened by the Chair, acting on his/her own initiative or at the request of a
simple majority of members of the Committee.
2.           Joint meetings of the
Committee with other committees may be convened to discuss issues coming within
their respective areas of responsibility.
Article 4
Agenda
1.           The Chair shall draw up the
draft agenda and submit it to the Committee.
2.           The agenda shall make a
distinction between:
(a)         
(a) draft measures to be adopted by the Commission
on which the Committee is asked to give an opinion, in accordance with the
procedure provided for in Article 14 of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation;
(b)         
(b) other issues put to the Committee for
information or a simple exchange of views, either on the Chair's initiative or
at the written request of a Committee Member.
3.           Any delegation may request
the inclusion of an item on the agenda of meetings of the Committee. Relevant
information on these items may be given orally.
4.           The agenda shall include
approval of the minutes of the previous meeting.
Article 5
Documentation
to be submitted to members of the Committee
1.           The Chairman shall send the
invitation to the meeting, the draft agenda and draft measures about which the
Committee is asked to give an opinion to the members of the Committee well in
advance of the meeting, taking into account the urgency and the complexity of
the matter, and at least 21 calendar days before the date of the meeting. Other
documents related to the meeting, in particular documents accompanying the
draft measures, shall, as far as possible, be submitted within the same
time-limit.
All documents shall be submitted in accordance
with Article 15(2) and 15(3).
2.           In duly justified cases, the
Chair may, on his/her own initiative or at the request of a member of the
Committee, shorten the time-limit for submission of documents referred to in
paragraph 1. Except in cases of extreme urgency, the time-limit shall not be
shorter than seven calendar days.
3.           By way of exception, in duly
substantiated cases of extreme urgency (e.g. serious economic, social and
political circumstances, natural disasters suffered by the recipient country,
humanitarian crisis or other external circumstances of a similar nature
requiring a very rapid reaction), the Chair may, at the request of a Committee
Member or on his or her own initiative, depart from the periods laid down in
paragraphs 1 and 2.
4.           Paragraphs 2 and 3 do not
apply to Strategy Papers and Multiannual Indicative Programmes and their
adjustment as a result of the mid-term and end-of-term reviews referred to in
Article 7(2) of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation.
5.           In the case of draft measures
submitted to the Committee for its opinion by oral procedure, delegations shall
inform the secretariat of the Committee in writing at least three working days
before the date of the meeting of the draft measures on which they are able to
agree without discussion, and of those measures which they feel should be
discussed at the meeting.
Delegations shall also formulate any comments and
requests for further information in writing and within the same time-limit.
The Commission shall provide further information
and respond to any comments, wherever possible, in writing and at least one day
before the meeting of the Committee.
6.           On duly justified imperative
grounds of urgency, the Commission may also use the procedure set out in
Article 14(4) of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation. In such
cases, the Chair shall submit the measures to the Committee at the latest 14
days after their adoption in order to obtain its opinion.
Article 6
Transmission
of Programming documents to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly
In accordance with Article 7(1) of the 11th
EDF Implementation Regulation, the Committee's secretariat will transmit the Programming
documents to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly for information at the same time
as they are sent to the delegations in the Committee.
Article 7
Opinion
of the Committee
1.           Where a matter is put to the
Committee for its opinion, it shall be discussed under the conditions and
according to the procedure set out respectively in Article 14(3) and 14(4) of
the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation and in Article 8(2) and 8(3) of the
Internal Agreement.
2.            Unless a member of the Committee
objects, the Chair may, without proceeding to a formal vote, establish that the
Committee has delivered a positive opinion, by consensus, on the draft
measures.
3.           When the oral procedure is
used, and a substantive change is made or new factual elements are added to the
draft measures during the meeting, the Chair, on his or her own initiative or
at the request of a Member State, may postpone the vote on a particular agenda
item until the end of the meeting or a later meeting.
4.           If, in the situation
described in paragraph 3, the Chair does not decide to postpone the vote as
requested by one (or more) delegation(s), this (these) delegation(s) may enter
a reservation which may be withdrawn within a maximum of three working days
starting from the day following the meeting. The Committee's opinion shall be
recorded as definitive upon expiry of this period. The Commission shall inform
Member States of the definitive position adopted by the Member State(s) whose delegation(s) entered a reservation in the Committee.
5.           If a delegation so requests,
voting on an issue can be postponed if the documents relating to a specific
agenda point have not been sent to members within the timeframe laid down in
Article 5(1) and 5(2). In that case, the Chair may decide to extend the period
of consultation, but no longer than the end of the next meeting. If necessary,
the written procedure provided for in Article 11 of these rules of procedure
may be applied.
However, at the proposal of the Chair or at the
request of a Committee member, the Committee may decide by a simple majority of
members to keep this point on the agenda because of the urgency of the matter. 
6.           In the context of an
examination of annual or multi-annual action programmes, any delegation may request
the withdrawal of a project or programme from the action programme If this
request is supported by a blocking minority of delegations, as laid down in
Article 8(3) of the Internal Agreement, in connection with Article 8(2) of the
Internal Agreement, the action programme shall be adopted by the Commission
without the project or programme concerned. Unless the Commission, in line with
the views of the delegations in the Committee, wishes not to pursue the
withdrawn project or programme, it shall, at a later stage, be re-submitted to
the Committee outside the action programme in the form of an individual measure
which shall then be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure
set out in Article 14 of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation.
Article 8
Exchange
of views
1.           Each delegation can invite
the Commission at any moment to provide the Committee with information and to
have an exchange of views on issues related to the tasks described under
Article 14(2) of the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation. Any evaluation,
including recommendations and follow-up actions may also be discussed in the
EDF Committee at the request of a Member State, in line with article 18(2) of
the 11th EDF Implementation Regulation.
2            Such exchanges of views may
lead to the formulation of recommendations by the delegations, which the
Commission shall take into account. The minutes of the Committee shall reflect
the interventions made. An intervention supported by a qualified majority of
delegations, as laid down in Article 8(3) of the Internal Agreement, in
connection with Article 8(2) of the Internal Agreement, shall be recorded as a
recommendation.
Article 9
Representation
and quorum
1.           Each delegation is considered
to be one Committee member. Each Member State shall decide the composition of
its delegation and shall inform the Chair thereof.
2.           With the Chair's approval,
delegations may be accompanied by non-governmental experts, at the expense of
the Member State concerned. 
Within a reasonable time and no later than five
calendar days before the date of a committee meeting, the following information
shall be communicated to the Chair:
(a)         
the composition of each delegation, except where
such composition is already known to the Chair;
(b)         
the names and functions of any experts accompanying
the delegations and the reasons for which their presence is required.
If the Chair does not object to the participation
of an expert in advance of the concerned Committee meeting, the permission is
considered to be granted.
3.           A delegation may, if
necessary, represent a maximum of one other Member State. The Chair of the
Committee shall be notified in writing at the latest before the start of the
meeting by the delegation which is represented.
4.           The quorum required for the
deliberations of the Committee to be valid is that permitting a qualified
majority opinion to be issued in accordance with Article 14(3) and 14(4) of the
11th EDF Implementation Regulation.
Article 10
Third
parties and experts
1.            Representatives of acceding countries shall be invited to
attend the meetings of the Committee as from the date of signature of the
Treaty of Accession.
2.           The Chair may decide to
invite representatives of other third parties or other experts to talk on
particular matters, on his/her own initiative or at the request of a member of
the Committee. However, a simple majority of Member States may oppose their
participation in the meeting.
3.           Representatives of third
parties and experts referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 and those mentioned in
Article 9(2) shall not be present at and shall not participate in voting of the
Committee.
Article 11
Written
procedure
1.           In duly justified cases, the
Chair may obtain the Committee’s opinion by written procedure. The Chair shall
send the Committee members the draft measures and shall lay down a time limit
for delivery of an opinion according to the urgency of the matter.
Delegations have in principle 21 calendar days from
the sending of the proposals to adopt a position. Any Committee delegation
which does not express its opposition or intention to abstain before the
deadline laid down in the letter is considered to have given its tacit
agreement to the proposal. 
In cases of urgency or extreme urgency, the same deadlines
as those laid down in Article 5(2) and 5(3) shall apply. The case of urgency or
extreme urgency must be duly substantiated in writing by the Commission. 
2.           However, if a Committee
member requests that the draft measures be considered in the course of a
meeting of the Committee, the written procedure shall thereby terminate and the
proposed measures shall be carried over to the next meeting of the Committee.
3.           The Commission informs the
Members of the Committee in writing on the outcome of a written procedure
without delay, and no later than 14 calendar days after the expiry of the
time-limit.
Article 12
Secretarial
support
Secretarial services for the Committee shall
be provided by the Commission.
Article 13
Minutes
and summary report of the meetings
The minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up
under the auspices of the Chair and shall contain the opinions expressed on the
proposed measures and the positions expressed during the meeting. The minutes
shall be sent to the members of the Committee without delay and no later than 1
month after the meeting.
The delegations shall send any written
comments they may have on the minutes to the Chair. The Committee shall be
informed of this; if there are any disagreements, the proposed amendment shall
be discussed by the Committee. If the disagreement persists, the proposed
amendment shall be annexed to the minutes.
Article 14
Attendance
list
1.           At each meeting, the Chair
shall draw up an attendance list specifying the authorities or bodies to which
the participants belong. The attendance list will be distributed to the
participants during the course of the meeting.
2.           At the beginning of every
meeting, any delegation whose participation in the work constitutes a conflict
of interest with regard to a particular point on the Agenda must inform the
Chair of this situation, and any person designated by the Member States, as
well as experts who have been authorised by the Chair to participate in the
meeting in accordance with Article 9(2) and Article 10(2), and representatives
of third parties who have been invited to attend the meeting in accordance with
Article 10 shall inform the Chair of any conflict of interest with regard to a
particular item on the agenda.
In the event of such a conflict of interest, the
person concerned shall, at the request of the Chair, withdraw from the meeting
whilst the relevant items of the agenda are being dealt with.
Article 15
Correspondence
1.           Correspondence relating to
the Committee shall be addressed to the Commission, for the attention of the
Committee secretariat.
2.           Correspondence addressed to
delegations by the secretariat shall also be sent to the Permanent
Representative of the Member State concerned in the most rapid and reliable
electronic way. Where a Permanent Representation indicates to the Commission a
specific central electronic address for correspondence related to work of the Committees,
that address shall be used for correspondence. In addition, correspondence may
be submitted directly to the persons designated by the Member States to
represent them in the Committee.
3.           Save in exceptional
circumstances, correspondence between the Commission and delegations shall be
sent in both directions by the computerised means provided for.
Article 16
Access
to documents and confidentiality
1.           Requests for access to Committee
documents shall be handled in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of
the European Parliament and of the Council[3].
It is for the Commission to take a decision on requests for access to those
documents pursuant to its Rules of Procedure as amended by Decision
2001/937/EC, ECSC, Euratom[4]. If the request is addressed to a Member State, that Member State shall apply Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
2.           The Committee's discussions
shall be confidential.
3.           Documents submitted to
members of the Committee, experts and representatives of third parties shall be
confidential, unless access is granted to those documents pursuant to paragraph
1 or they are otherwise made public by the Commission.
4.           The members of the Committee,
as well as experts and representatives of third parties, shall be required to
respect the confidentiality obligations set out in this Article. The Chair
shall ensure that experts and representatives of third parties are made aware
of the confidentiality requirements imposed upon them.
Article 17
Protection of personal data
The processing of personal data by the
committee and its working groups shall be in conformity with Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council[5] on
the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by
the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data, under
the responsibility of the Chair acting as the controller, within the meaning of
point (d) of Article 2 of that Regulation.
Article 18
Running
costs
1.           The Committee's running
costs, including travel expenses for one participant per Member State, shall be borne by the Commission.
If the allocated financial appropriation allows it
and within the limits of the latter, the Commission shall cover the travelling
expenses of two delegation members who submit a request to this effect.
2.           The Commission shall make
available to the Committee the premises and material resources necessary for
its work.
[1]               Insert reference of the
Council regulation on the implementation of the 11th European
Development Fund: OJ (…)
[2]               Council Decision 2013/755/EU of 25 November 2013, on
the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European
Union (‘Overseas Association Decision’), OJ L344, 19.12.2013
[3]               Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of
the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.5.2001,
p. 43.
[4]               OJ L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 94.
[5]               OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1