REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION on the working of Committees during 2015
Date: 2016-12-05
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU control, activity report, comitology, committee (EU), official statistics, power of implementation

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 5.12.2016  
COM(2016) 772 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

on the working of Committees during 2015 

{SWD(2016) 425 final} 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
  
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2015 

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 2015. 

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  developments  in  the  comitology  system  in  2015  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 2015 

1.1  General development 

The Commission examined the first 5 years of the implementation of Regulation 182/2011 in 
a report adopted on 26 February 20162. It concluded that the Regulation has allowed over the 
last five years the effective use of the Commission's implementing powers under the control 
of Member States. It further concluded that the existing framework allows for an efficient and 
constructive cooperation between the Commission and Member States.  

As described in the 2013 annnual report3, all comitology procedures provided for in the ‘old’ 
Comitology  Decision4,  with  the  exception  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  (RPS), 
were automatically adapted to the new comitology procedures provided for in the Comitology 
Regulation (Regulation (EU) 182/2011). 

In 2015, 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 (RPS) set out in Article 5a of the Comitology 
Decision. 

In accordance with the statement5 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  proposals6  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  proposals7  pending  the 

1 

2  
3 
4 

5 

6 
7  

Regulation  (EU)  No  182/2011  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  16  February  2011 
laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of 
the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13). 
COM/2016/092 final. 
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 

 
 
 
                                                            
outcome of future discussions between the institutions in the context of the Interinstitutional 
Agreement on Better Law-Making. This led to a new Agreement officially signed on 13 April 
2016  which  recalls  "the  need  to  give  high  priorty  to  the  prompt  alignment  of  all  basic  acts 
which still refer to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.8"  

In  its  Work  Programme  for  20179,  the  Commission  accordingly  announces  that  it  will 
"propose  legislation  to  align  existing  acts  with  the  Treaty  provisions  on  delegated  and 
implementing  acts,  thus  phasing  out  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny"  as  well  its 
intention  to  "assess  the  democratic  legitimacy  of  existing  procedures  for  the  adoption  of 
delegated  and  implementing  acts  and  consider  options  for  changing  existing  procedures  for 
the adoption of certain secondary acts." 

1.2 

Development of case law 

With  its  judgment  in  Case  C-88/14,  Commission  v.  Parliament  and  Council  (the  "Visa 
reciprocity  mechanism"  case),  on  16  July  2015,  the  Court  came  back  to  the  question  of 
delineation  between  delegated  and  implementing  acts.  With  its  application  in  this  case,  the 
Commission  sought  the  annulment  of  the  revised  reciprocity  mechanism  in  so  far  as  the 
provisions  confer  on  the  Commission  a  delegated  power  in  accordance  with  article  290(1) 
TFEU  rather  than  an  implementing  power  within  the  meaning  of  article  291(2)  TFEU.  The 
Commission considered the latter to be more appropriate in this case, given the tasks at hand 
(the amendment of an annex following a visa requirement introduced by a third party). The 
Court dismissed the Commission's action and argued that neither the existence nor the extent 
of the discretion conferred on the Commission by a legislative act is relevant for determining 
whether the act to be adopted by the Commission should be a delegated or an implementing 
act. 

In  its  judgment  in  Joined  Cases  T-261/13  and  T-86/14,  Netherlands  v.  Commission 
("Eurostat")  of  23  September  2015,  the  Court  annulled  provisions  in  Commission 
implementing measures adopted following the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. It recalled 
that the rules regarding the manner in which the EU institutions arrive at their decisions are 
laid down in the Treaty and are not at the disposal of the Member States or of the institutions 
themselves.  The  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands  argued  in  this  case  that  the  adoption  of 
implementing  measures  under  Regulation  (EC)  No  2494/95  and  of  measures  to  implement 
those  implementing  measures,  require  the  application  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with 
scrutiny, while the Commission's implementing measures in question provided for Eurostat to 
establish  and  update  methodological  frameworks  without  being  required  to  follow  the 
regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny.  The  Commission  argued  that  the  methodological 
frameworks  were  not  meant  to  be  binding  upon  Member  States  and  did  not  themselves 
constitute implementing measures as referred to in Regulation (EC) No 2494/95. The Court 
decided  that  such  frameworks  constitute  implementing  measures  which  must  be  complied 
with  in  order  to  give  practical  effect  to  the  applicable  regulations  and  to  ensure  the 
comparability  of  harmonised  indices  of  consumer  prices.  As  such,  the  contested  provisions 
should  have  provided  for  the  application  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  for  the 
adoption of the necessary implementing measures, as foreseen in Regulation No 2494/95.  

8  
9  

Chapter V, paragraph 27. 
SWD(2016) 400 final 

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  Commission10  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 2015 was calculated by sector of activity (see Table I). The 
figures  for  the  previous  year  (on  31 December  2014)  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 

Policy sector 

2014 

2015 

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

18 
2 
5 
5 
5 
2 
5 
1 
2 
4 
14 
31 
6 
8 
4 
43 
11 
21 
4 
30 
3 
1 
1 
5 
21 
3* 
11 
14 
280 

* 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). 

10 

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

4 

 
 
                                                            
In 2015, 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 (2015) 

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 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 
2 
5 
0 
3 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
2 
23 

12 
1 
1 
1 
2 
2 
1 
0 
1 
0 
4 
6 
2 
1 
3 
9 
6 
5 
2 
7 
1 
1 
0 
4 
9 
2 
9 
6 
98 

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

Operates under 
several 
procedures 
6 
0 
4 
4 
3 
0 
4 
1 
1 
4 
6 
20 
4 
5 
1 
23 
3 
6 
2 
17 
1 
0 
1 
1 
12 
1 
1 
6 
137 

TOTAL: 

18 
2 
5 
5 
5 
2 
5 
1 
2 
4 
14 
31 
6 
8 
4 
43 
11 
21 
4 
30 
3 
1 
1 
5 
21 
3 
11 
14 
280 

* 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  procedures11  used  in  2015,  also 
reflects  the  intensity  of  work  in  general,  both  at  sector  level  and  in  individual  committees 
(Table III). 

11 

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 

Number of 
committees  

Meetings 

Written procedures 

2014 

2015 

2014 

2015 

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 
5 
5 
2 
5 
1 
2 
4 
14 
31 
6 
8 
4 
43 
11 
21 
4 
30 
3 
1 
1 
5 
21 
3 
11 
14 
280 

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 

145 
4 
6 
15 
16 
3 
4 
1 
6 
4 
16 
38 
6 
8 
2 
76 
29 
10 
11 
51 
7 
2 
1 
57 
106 
5* 
65 
25 
719 

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 

10 
0 
1 
11 
7 
0 
1 
0 
5 
5 
2 
12 
5 
9 
3 
28 
31 
5 
4 
22 
19 
0 
0 
205 
437 
1 
20 
25 
868 

* Including 4 meetings of the appeal committee. 

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  Commission12. 
These figures quantify the tangible ‘output’ of the committees (see Table IV). Out of the total 
number of draft implementing acts submitted to the committeess in 2015, the EP adopted 3 

12 

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 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
resolutions13 on the basis of Article 11 of the Comitology Regulation, while the Council has 
not adopted any such resolutions. 

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

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 

2015 
116 
4 
7 
20 
57 
1 
5 
1 
9 
9 
8 
37 
16 
16 
4 
74 
63 
9 
15 
55 
65 
0 
1 
266 
736 
11* 
65 
56 
1 726 
* Including 10 opinions delivered by the appeal committee and 22 adopted acts. 

2014 
141 
15 
19 
21 
86 
1 
28 
5 
9 
7 
14 
38 
17 
17 
4 
54 
45 
19 
22 
93 
112 
0 
12 
152 
799 
13 
79 
67 
1 889 

2014 
135 
14 
14 
20 
84 
1 
9 
5 
7 
3 
4 
16 
6 
3 
2 
19 
42 
11 
22 
44 
110 
0 
8 
150 
695 
2 
74 
63 
1 563 

2015 
116 
4 
7 
12 
58 
1 
2 
1 
11 
6 
1 
16 
6 
10 
0 
37 
42 
9 
15 
46 
65 
0 
1 
223 
671 
23 
65 
58 
1 506 

TOTAL 

2014 
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 

2015 
1 
0 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 
11 
10 
6 
0 
13 
0 
1 
0 
17 
0 
0 
0 
0 
62 
0 
0 
0 
129 

2.3  Meetings of the appeal committee 

The appeal committee met 4 times during 2015, and discussed 11 draft implementing acts (in 
the areas of health and consumer policy and mobility and transport) which were referred by 
the  Commission.  The  appeal  committee  delivered  no  opinion  in  10  cases.  The  Commission 
decided to adopt all of these 10 implementing acts and to withdraw 1 act. 

13 

Resolution on the draft Commission implementing regulation adopting a list of invasive alien species of 
Union concern (2015/3010(RSP); Resolution on Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/2279 
authorising  the  placing  on  the  market  of  products  containing,  consisting  of,  or  produced  from 
genetically  modified  maize  NK603  ×  T25  (MON-ØØ6Ø3-6  ×  ACS-ZMØØ3-2)  (2015/3006(RSP); 
Resolution  on  draft  Commission  implementing  decision  granting  an  authorisation  for  uses  of  bis(2-
ethylhexhyl) phthalate (DEHP) under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council (2015/2962(RSP). 

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 2015 
129 measures were adopted according to the RPS (see Table V). The right to oppose was not 
used. In 2014, by comparison, the right to oppose was used once. 

TABLE V — NUMBER OF MEASURES ADOPTED ACCORDING TO THE REGULATORY 
PROCEDURE WITH SCRUTINY (RPS) (2015) 

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 
1 
0 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
6 
11 
10 
6 
0 
13 
0 
1 
0 
17 
0 
0 
0 
0 
62 
0 
0 
0 
129 

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 
0 
0 
0 
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  2015,  broken  down  on  the  basis  of  the  different 
Commission departments concerned. 

8