REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION on the working of Committees during 2014
Date: 2015-09-03
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU control, activity report, comitology, committee (EU), official statistics, power of implementation

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 3.9.2015  
COM(2015) 418 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the working of Committees during 2014 

{SWD(2015) 165 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2014 

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  powers1  (the  ‘Comitology  Regulation’),  the  Commission  hereby 
presents the annual report on the working of committees for 2014. 

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  developments  in  the  comitology  system  in  2014  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 2014 

1.1  General development 

As  described  in  the  2013  report2,  all  comitology  procedures  provided  for  in  the  ‘old’ 
Comitology  Decision3,  with  the  exception  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  (RPS), 
were automatically adapted to the new comitology procedures provided for in the Comitology 
Regulation. 

In 2014, 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 RPS set out in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision. 

In accordance with the statement4 made at the time of adoption of the Comitology Regulation 
that all the RPS provisions in existing basic acts would be adapted to the criteria laid down in 
the  Treaty,  the  Commission  adopted  in  2013,  following  a  preliminary  screening  exercise  in 
2012,  three  proposals5  to  align  a  total  of  200  basic  acts  to  Articles  290  and  291  TFEU.  In 
November 2014, the Commission at the beginning of its new mandate and in the context of a 
review  of  pending  legislative  proposals,  decided  to  withdraw  these  proposals6  pending  the 
outcome of future discussions between the institutions in the context of the Inter-institutional 
Agreement on Better Regulation. 

1.2 

Development of case law 

With  its  judgment  in  Case  C-427/12,  Commission  v  Parliament  and  Council  (the  ‘Biocides 
case’),  on  18  March  2014  the  Court  of  Justice  pronounced  for  the  first  time  on  a  case  of 
delineation  between  delegated  and  implementing  acts.  With  its  application  in  the  Biocides 
case,  the  European  Commission  sought  the  annulment  of  a  provision  providing  for  the 
adoption  of  measures  setting  the  fees  payable  to  the  European  Chemicals  Agency  by 

1 
2 
3 

4 

5 
6  

OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13. 
Report from the Commission on the working of committees during 2013, COM(2014)572 final. 
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). 
This statement was published in the Official Journal together with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 (OJ L 
55 of 28.2.2011, p. 19). 
COM(2013)451, 452 and 751. 
OJ C 80, 7.3.2015, p. 17. 

2 

 
 
 
                                                            
implementing  acts.  The  Commission  considered  that  these  should  be  set  by  delegated  acts. 
The Court of Justice dismissed the action by the Commission as unfounded. While the Court 
did  not  appear  to  question  that  Articles  290  and  291  TFEU  each  have  their  own  scope,  it 
recognised that the legislator has a margin of discretion when it decides to confer a delegated 
power  on  the  Commission  pursuant  to  Article  290(1)  TFEU  or  an  implementing  power 
pursuant to Article 291(2) TFEU. As a consequence, the Court found that judicial review is 
limited to manifest errors. 

In  its  judgment  of  15  October  2014  in  case  C-65/13,  European  Parliament  v  European 
Commission  (EURES  case),  the  Court  dismissed  the  action  of  the  Parliament,  seeking  the 
annulment of Implementing Decision 2012/733/EU, considering that the Commission had not 
exceeded its implementing powers. 

3 

 
 
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  Commission7  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 2014 to 1 January 2015 was calculated by sector  of activity (see Table I). 
The  figures  for  the  previous  year  (on  31 December  2013)  are  also  given  for  purposes  of 
comparison.  Sections  and  configurations  are  not  counted  separately  as  these  belong  to  a 
parent committee. 

TABLE I — TOTAL NUMBER OF COMMITTEES (2014/15) 

Policy sector 

2014/15 

2013 

Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) 
Budget (BUDG) 
Climate Action (CLIMA) 
Communications Networks, Content and Technology (CNECT) 
Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN) 
Education and Culture (EAC) 
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) 
Energy (ENER) 
Environment (ENV) 
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) 
Eurostat (ESTAT) 
Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital markets Union (FISMA) 
Health and Food Safety (SANTE) 
Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) 
Informatics (DIGIT) 
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) 
International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) 
Justice and Consumers (JUST) 
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE) 
Migration and Home Affairs (HOME) 
Mobility and Transport (MOVE) 
Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR) 
Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO) 
Research and Innovation (RTD) 
Secretariat-General (SG) 
Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) 
Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD) 
Trade (TRADE) 

TOTAL: 

18 
2 
5 
6 
1 
5 
4 
15 
31 
1 
7 
9 
21 
2 
1 
44 
5 
20 
4 
14 
30 
3 
1 
5 
3* 
4 
11 
15 
287 

20 
2 
4 
6 
2 
8 
4 
18 
33 
1 
7 
15 
26 
3 
1 
33 
6 
17 
4 
13 
32 
4 
2 
8 
2* 
4 
13 
13 
301 

* 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). 

7 

For more details see: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm  

4 

 
 
                                                            
In 2014, 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).  Certain  committees  which  applied  multiple 
procedures have been separated from committees operating under a single procedure. 

TABLE II — NUMBER OF COMMITTEES BY PROCEDURE (2014) 

Type of procedure 

Advisory 

Examination 

Regulatory with 
scrutiny 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEVCO 
DIGIT 
EAC 
ECFIN 
ECHO 
EMPL 
ENER 
ENV 
ESTAT 
FISMA 
FPI 
GROW 
HOME 
JUST 
MARE 
MOVE 
NEAR 
OLAF 
REGIO 
RTD 
SANTE 
SG 
TAXUD 
TRADE 

TOTAL: 

0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
0 
0 
0 
0 
7 
2 
5 
0 
3 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
2 
25 

12 
1 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
0 
1 
0 
5 
6 
2 
2 
3 
9 
6 
6 
3 
7 
1 
0 
0 
4 
10 
3* 
9 
6 
103 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
5 
0 
2 
0 
5 
0 
5 
0 
3 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
22 

Operates under 
several 
procedures 
6 
0 
4 
4 
3 
0 
4 
1 
1 
4 
6 
20 
5 
5 
1 
23 
6 
4 
1 
17 
1 
0 
1 
1 
11 
0 
1 
7 
137 

TOTAL: 

18 
2 
5 
6 
5 
1 
5 
1 
2 
4 
15 
31 
7 
9 
4 
44 
14 
20 
4 
30 
3 
1 
1 
5 
21 
3* 
11 
15 
287 

* 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  procedures8  used  in  2014,  also 
reflects  the  intensity  of  work  in  general,  both  at  sector  level  and  in  individual  committees 
(Table III). 

8 

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. 

5 

 
 
 
  
                                                            
TABLE III — NUMBER OF MEETINGS AND WRITTEN PROCEDURES (2014) 

Number of 
committees  

Meetings 

Written procedures 

2014 

2013 

2014 

2013 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEVCO 
DIGIT 
EAC 
ECFIN 
ECHO 
EMPL 
ENER 
ENV 
ESTAT 
FISMA 
FPI 
GROW 
HOME 
JUST 
MARE 
MOVE 
NEAR 
OLAF 
REGIO 
RTD 
SANTE 
SG 
TAXUD 
TRADE 

TOTAL 

18 
2 
5 
6 
5 
1 
5 
1 
2 
4 
15 
31 
7 
9 
4 
44 
14 
20 
4 
30 
3 
1 
1 
5 
21 
3 
11 
15 
287 

* Including 6 meetings of the appeal committee. 

140 
4 
12 
11 
16 
2 
6 
5 
9 
4 
20 
38 
8 
7 
5 
60 
28 
10 
9 
64 
12 
2 
10 
52 
122 
6* 
89 
22 
773 

132 
6 
13 
16 
20 
2 
9 
0 
5 
2 
33 
42 
12 
9 
4 
56 
21 
4 
8 
52 
4 
2 
7 
23 
127 
7 
81 
19 
716 

8 
2 
1 
10 
12 
0 
6 
0 
3 
7 
7 
12 
6 
7 
2 
24 
40 
12 
2 
23 
20 
0 
4 
131 
506 
0 
25 
23 
893 

3 
1 
3 
12 
48 
0 
59 
0 
5 
15 
2 
18 
4 
6 
7 
29 
15 
11 
15 
16 
10 
0 
3 
240 
403 
0 
32 
9 
966 

2.2 

Number of opinions and implementing acts/ measures 

As  always,  this  report  provides  overall  figures  on  the  formal  opinions  delivered  by  the 
committees  and  the  subsequent  implementing  acts/measures  adopted  by  the  Commission9. 
These figures quantify the tangible ‘output’ of the committees (see Table IV). 

9 

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. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
TABLE IV — NUMBER OF OPINIONS AND IMPLEMENTING ACTS/MEASURES ADOPTED 
(2014) 

Opinions 

Implementing Acts 
adopted 

RPS Measures 
adopted 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEVCO 
DIGIT 
EAC 
ECFIN 
ECHO 
EMPL 
ENER 
ENV 
ESTAT 
FISMA 
FPI 
GROW 
HOME 
JUST 
MARE 
MOVE 
NEAR 
OLAF 
REGIO 
RTD 
SANTE 
SG 
TAXUD 
TRADE 

135 
141 
14 
15 
14 
19 
20 
21 
84 
86 
1 
1 
9 
28 
5 
5 
7 
9 
3 
7 
4 
14 
16 
38 
6 
17 
3 
17 
2 
4 
19 
54 
42 
45 
11 
19 
22 
22 
44 
93 
110 
112 
0 
0 
8 
12 
150 
152 
695 
799 
2* 
13* 
74 
79 
63 
67 
1 563 
1 889 
* Including 13 opinions delivered by the appeal committee and 2 adopted acts. 

TOTAL 

2 
0 
5 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
4 
19 
10 
1 
0 
24 
0 
1 
0 
32 
0 
0 
0 
0 
67 
0 
0 
0 
165 

2.3  Meetings of the appeal committee 

The appeal committee met 6 times during 2014, and discussed 13 draft implementing acts (in 
the areas of health and consumer policy, mobility and transport) which were referred by the 
Commission. The appeal committee delivered no opinion in 11 cases and a positive opinion in 
2 cases. The Commission decided to adopt all of these implementing acts. 

7 

 
 
  
 
 
 
2.4 

Use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS) 

As  mentioned  under  Section  1,  the  RPS  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 2014 
165 measures were adopted according to the RPS (see Table V). The right of veto was used in 
1 case (DG SANTE). In 2013, by comparison, the right of veto was used once. 

TABLE V — NUMBER OF MEASURES ADOPTED ACCORDING TO THE REGULATORY 
PROCEDURE WITH SCRUTINY (RPS) (2014) 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEVCO 
DIGIT 
EAC 
ECFIN 
ECHO 
EMPL 
ENER 
ENV 
ESTAT 
FISMA 
FPI 
GROW 
HOME 
JUST 
MARE 
MOVE 
NEAR 
OLAF 
REGIO 
RTD 
SANTE 
SG 
TAXUD 
TRADE 

TOTAL 

RPS Measures 
adopted 
2 
0 
5 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
4 
19 
10 
1 
0 
24 
0 
1 
0 
32 
0 
0 
0 
0 
67 
0 
0 
0 
165 

EP opposed adoption of draft 
measures under RPS 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

Council opposed adoption of 
draft measures under RPS 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
1 

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  2014,  broken  down  on  the  basis  of  the  different 
Commission departments concerned. 

8