REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2018
Date: 2019-12-16
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU control, activity report, comitology, committee (EU), official statistics, power of implementation

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 16.12.2019  COM(2019) 638 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2018 {SWD(2019) 441 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ON THE WORKING OF COMMITTEES DURING 2018 

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 2018. 

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  developments  in  the  comitology  system  in  2018  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 2018 

General development 

1.1. 
As described in the 2013 annnual report2, all comitology procedures provided for in the ‘old’ 
Comitology  Decision3,  with  the  exception  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny,  were 
automatically  adapted  to  the  new  comitology  procedures  provided  for  in  the  Comitology 
Regulation. 

In 2018, 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 set out in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision. 

The Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 20164 recalls, in its point 
27, the need to align the regulatory procedure with scrutiny: 

‘The three institutions acknowledge the need for the alignment of all existing legislation to the 
legal  framework  introduced  by  the  Lisbon  Treaty,  and  in  particular  the  need  to  give  high 
priority to the prompt alignment of all basic acts which still refer to the regulatory procedure 
with scrutiny. The Commission will propose that latter alignment by the end of 2016.’ 

In  line  with  this  commitment,  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  for  the  alignment  of  the 
basic acts providing for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to delegated and implementing 
acts5. It also adopted a second proposal, dealing specifically with the alignment of basic acts 

1 

2 
3 

4   

5 

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). 
Report from the Commission on the working of committees during 2013 (COM(2014)572 final). 
Council  Decision  1999/468/EC  of  28  June  1999  laying  down  the  procedures  for  the  exercise  of 
implementing  powers  conferred  on  the  Commission  (OJ  L  184,  17.7.1999,  p.  23),  as  amended  by 
Decision 2006/512/EC (OJ L 200, 22.7.2006, p. 11) (Consolidated version in OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p. 
4). 
Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and 
the European Commission on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016 (OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1).  
Proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  adapting  a  number  of  legal 
acts  providing  for  the  use  of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  to  Articles  290  and  291  of  the 
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (COM(2016)799). 

1 

 
 
 
                                                           
in the field of justice6. The interinstitutional negotiations on the first file have been partially 
concluded.  The  legislator  agreed  to  the  alignment  of  64  of  the  basic  acts  concerned7,  while 
negotiations on the remaining acts and on the acts in the area of justice will continue. Where 
alignment  takes  place  from  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  to  delegated  acts  the 
respective committees will no longer play a role and the respective delegated acts will in the 
future be prepared with the help of expert groups.  

The Commission on 26 February 2016 adopted a Report on the implementation of Regulation 
(EU)  182/20118.  In  this  report,  the  Commission  concluded  that  the  overall  legal  framework 
for  comitology  is  functioning  well.  However,  it  also  pointed  at  the  time  to  the  political 
problem  of  ‘no  opinion’  outcomes  especially  in  a  few  very  sensitive  areas  such  as  the 
authorisation  of  genetically  modified  organisms.  Subsequently,  the  Commission  on  14 
February  2017  adopted  a  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  amending  the  Comitology  Regulation  (EU)  No  182/20119.  This  proposal  puts 
forward a number of targeted changes to the functioning of the appeal committee to address 
no  opinion  situations  in  sensitive  areas.  This  file,  however,  is  currently  blocked  in 
interinstitutional negotiations. 

Negotiations  between  the  three  institutions  have been  concluded  on  non-binding  criteria  for 
the  application  of  Articles  290  and  291  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European 
Union,  so  the  delineation  between  delegated  and  implementing  acts.  The  final  text  of  the 
delineation criteria has been published in the Official Journal on 3 July 201910.  

In  its  Communication  ‘Better  regulation  for  better  results’  of  May  2015,  the  Commission 
committed that draft texts for delegated acts and drafts for important implementing acts will 
be made public for a four weeks feedback period, allowing stakeholders to submit comments. 
In 2018, 165 such draft acts were published for public feedback on the Commission’s ‘Have 
your say’ website11.  

1.2. 

Development of case law 

In its judgment of 13 December 2018 in Joined Cases T‑ 339/16, T‑ 352/16 et T‑ 391/16, the 
General  Court  dealt  with  the  question  of  essential  elements  of  the  basic  act.  The  Court 
analysed whether limits on car emissions values were considered an essential element of the 
basic act which the Commission was not empowered to amend, even though those limits were 
laid down in an annex to the basic act. In the particular case at hand, the General Court looked 
into  the  recitals  and  enacting  terms  of  the  basis  act  and  found  that  the  emission  limits  laid 
down in an annex to the basic act were an essential, and ‘even a central element of the act’, 
because  the  purpose  of  all  the  other  provisions  of  that  act  was  to  ensure  respect  of  those 
limits, and there was no explicit provision empowering the Commission to amend them. 

6 

7 

8  

9  

10  

11  

Proposal for a  Regulation of  the European Parliament and  of the  Council adapting a  number of legal 
acts in the area of Justice providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Article 290 
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (COM(2016)798). 
Regulation (EU) 2019/1243 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 adapting a 
number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Articles 290 and 
291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 241). 
Report  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  implementation  of 
Regulation (EU) 182/2011 (COM(2016)92). 
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending 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 (COM(2017)085 final). 
Interinstitutional Agreement on the Non-Binding Criteria for the application of Articles 290 and 291 of 
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ C 223, 3.7.2019, p. 1). 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say_en  

2 

 
                                                           
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  Commission12  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 2018 was calculated by sector of activity (see Table I). The 
figures  for  the  previous  year  (on  31  December  2017)  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 

2017 

2018 

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: 

12 
2 
5 
7 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
13 
30 
4 
8 
4 
42 
13 
23 
3 
31 
3 
1 
1 
5 
17 
3* 
11 
13 
267 

11 
2 
5 
7 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
13 
30 
4 
8 
4 
44 
13 
25 
3 
31 
3 
1 
1 
7 
17 
3* 
13 
14 
275 

* Including the appeal committee (for the needs of the comitology register, the appeal committee is registered as a committee 
under the responsibility of the Secretariat-General; in practice, it is managed by all services concerned). 

In 2018, 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. 

12 

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

3 

 
                                                           
TABLE II — NUMBER OF COMMITTEES BY PROCEDURE 

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 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
2 
7 
0 
3 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
3 
23 

6 
1 
1 
3 
2 
0 
1 
0 
1 
0 
5 
9 
2 
1 
3 
11 
7 
7 
1 
8 
1 
1 
0 
6 
7 
2 
10 
4 
100 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
5 
0 
2 
0 
4 
0 
4 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
21 

Operates under 
several 
procedures 
5 
1 
4 
4 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
5 
3 
16 
2 
5 
1 
26 
3 
7 
2 
16 
1 
0 
1 
1 
10 
1 
2 
7 
130 

TOTAL: 

11 
2 
5 
7 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
13 
30 
4 
8 
4 
44 
12 
25 
3 
31 
3 
1 
1 
7 
17 
3* 
13 
14 
274 

* 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  procedures13  used  in  2018,  also 
reflects  the  intensity  of  work  in  general,  both  at  sector  level  and  in  individual  committees 
(Table III). 

13 

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. 

4 

 
  
 
                                                           
TABLE III — NUMBER OF MEETINGS AND WRITTEN PROCEDURES 

Number of 
committees  

Meetings 

Written procedures 

2017 

2018 

2017 

2018 

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 

90 
4 
7 
17 
17 
1 
6 
3 
4 
6 
6 
29 
6 
10 
2 
70 
28 
10 
4 
54 
8 
0 
1 
57 
108 
8* 
33 
27 

616 
* meetings/written procedure of the appeal committee 

TOTAL: 

95 
4 
5 
15 
18 
2 
6 
2 
4 
4 
11 
30 
5 
3 
6 
64 
39 
10 
4 
53 
9 
0 
2 
53 
100 
6* 
36 
29 

620 

17 
0 
2 
11 
9 
0 
1 
0 
3 
1 
5 
13 
2 
18 
0 
34 
29 
5 
10 
35 
19 
0 
2 
246 
494 
1* 
29 
38 

1 024 

16 
1 
6 
12 
16 
0 
1 
0 
4 
1 
6 
12 
3 
16 
3 
16 
22 
7 
11 
31 
7 
0 
0 
218 
430 
0 
21 
24 

880 

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  Commission14. 
These figures quantify the tangible ‘output’ of the committees (see Table IV).  

The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  have  a  right  of  scrutiny  under  Article  11  of  the 
Comitology Regulation.  In 2018, the European Parliament adopted 9 resolutions on the basis 
of  Article  11  of  the  Comitology  Regulation,  while  the  Council  has  not  adopted  any  such 
resolution. 

14 

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. 

5 

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

Opinions15 

Implementing Acts 
adopted 

 Regulatory procedure with 
scrutiny - 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* 

2017 
142 
7 
11 
19 
53 
1 
5 
3 
7 
7 
8 
31 
9 
22 
4 
104 
76 
10 
20 
59 
74 
0 
2 
248 
803 
16 
79 
86 
1906 

2018 
146 
4 
14 
19 
67 
1 
6 
2 
6 
4 
7 
31 
9 
18 
5 
77 
74 
10 
17 
61 
86 
0 
4 
225 
629 
12 
56 
59 
1633 

2017 
137 
5 
3 
18 
54 
1 
4 
3 
6 
5 
7 
16 
4 
7 
2 
83 
68 
6 
17 
50 
74 
0 
0 
176 
753 
17 
85 
86 
1687 

2018 
145 
6 
14 
15 
66 
1 
6 
2 
7 
5 
4 
14 
8 
5 
5 
53 
61 
8 
15 
57 
86 
0 
2 
159 
603 
11 
57 
52 
1456 

2017 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
18 
6 
0 
0 
24 
0 
0 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
56 
0 
0 
0 
113 

2018 
5 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
11 
3 
6 
0 
15 
0 
0 
0 
11 
0 
0 
0 
0 
38 
0 
0 
0 
90 

TAXUD 
TRADE 
TOTAL: 
*   Including opinions delivered by the appeal committee and adopted acts. 

2.3.  Meetings of the appeal committee 

The appeal committee met 6 times during 2018, and discussed 12 draft implementing acts (in 
the areas of health and consumer policy) which were referred by the Commission. The appeal 
committee  delivered  no  opinion  in  all  12  cases.  The  Commission  decided  to  adopt  11 
implementing acts following such no opinion in 2018. 

2.4. 

Use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny  

As mentioned under Section 1, the regulatory procedure with scrutiny 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  2018,  90  measures  were  adopted  according  to  the  regulatory  procedure 
with scrutiny (see Table V). The right to oppose was used once, by the European Parliament. 
In 2017, by comparison, the right to oppose was also used once. 

15  

A vote resulting in ‘no opinion’ is counted towards the total number of opinions. 

6 

 
  
 
 
 
                                                           
TABLE V — NUMBER OF MEASURES ADOPTED ACCORDING TO THE REGULATORY 
PROCEDURE WITH SCRUTINY  

Regulatory procedure with 
scrutiny - measures 
adopted 
5 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
11 
3 
6 
0 
15 
0 
0 
0 
11 
0 
0 
0 
0 
38 
0 
0 
0 
90 

European Parliament 
opposed adoption of draft 
measures  
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 

Council opposed adoption of 
draft measures  
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 

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: 

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  2018,  broken  down  on  the  basis  of  the  different 
Commission departments concerned. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The European Parliament and the Council are invited to take note of this Report.  

7