REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the working of committees during 2019
Date: 2021-02-19
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU control, activity report, comitology, committee (EU), official statistics, power of implementation

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 19.2.2021  COM(2021) 69 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the working of committees during 2019 {SWD(2021) 21 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the working of committees during 2019 

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 2019. 

This  report  gives  an  overview  of  developments  in  the  comitology  system  in  2019  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 2019 

General developments 

1.1. 
All comitology procedures provided for in the ‘old’ Comitology Decision2, with the exception 
of  the  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny,  were  automatically  adapted  by  the  Comitology 
Regulation to the procedures provided for in that Regulation. 

In 2019, 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. 

As regards the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better 
Law-Making of 13 April 20163 recalls, in its point 27, the need to align acts still refering to 
this procedure to the new legal framework introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. 

In 2019, the alignment of 64 basic acts providing for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to 
delegated and in a few cases to implementing acts was agreed4. After this partial agreement 
on the Commission’s proposal, interinstitutional negotiations continue on the alignment of the 

1 

2 

3   

4 

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). 
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).  
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). 

1 

 
 
 
                                                           
remaining  basic  acts  included  in  the  general  Commission  proposal5  and  in  the  Commission 
proposal concerning the area of justice6. 

Furthermore, negotiations between the three institutions were successfully concluded in 2019 
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 was published in the Official Journal on 3 July 
20197. 

Negotiations  are  still  ongoing  on  a  Commission  proposal  from  14  February  2017  on  a 
Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending  the  Comitology 
Regulation (EU) No 182/20118. This proposal puts forward a number of targeted changes to 
the functioning of the appeal committee to address no opinion situations in sensitive areas. 

In  its  Communication  ‘Better  regulation  for  better  results’  of  May  2015,  the  Commission 
made  the  commitment  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  2019,  93  such  draft  acts  were  published  for  public 
feedback on the Commission’s ‘Have your say’ website9. 

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 2019 was calculated by sector of activity (see Table I). The 
figures  for  the  previous  year  (on  31  December  2018)  are  also  given  for  purposes  of 
comparison.  Sections  and  configurations  are  not  counted  separately  as  these  belong  to  a 
parent committee. 

5  

6 

7  

8  

9  
10 

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 final.  
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). 
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). 
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). 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say_en  
For more details see: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm.  

2 

 
                                                           
TABLE I — TOTAL NUMBER OF COMMITTEES 

Policy sector 

2018 

2019 

AGRI   (Agriculture and Rural Development 
BUDG   (Budget) 
CLIMA   (Climate Action) 
CNECT   (Communications Networks, Content and Technology) 
DEFIS   (Defence Industry and Space) 
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: 

11 
2 
5 
7 
0 
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 

11 
2 
5 
9 
6 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
2 
9 
4 
36 
18 
24 
3 
32 
3 
1 
1 
17 
34 
4* 
26 
14 
318 

* 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  2019,  318  comitology  committees  were  active.  This  number  includes  all  the  committee 
configurations11.  While  in  previous  years  committee  configurations  were  listed  in  the 
accompanying  staff  working  document,  they  are  now  also  systematically  included  in  the 
overall figures.  

Comitology  committees  can  generally  be  broken  down  according  to  the  type  of  procedure 
under which they operate (advisory procedure, examination procedure, regulatory procedure 
with scrutiny — see Table II). In the table below, that looks at the committees active in 2019 
per  procedure,  certain  committees  which  applied  multiple  procedures  have  been  separated 
from committees operating under a single procedure. 

11  

In a few basic acts the legislator has provided for specific configurations of the committee. 

3 

 
 
 
                                                           
TABLE II — NUMBER OF COMMITTEES BY PROCEDURE 

Type of procedure 

Advisory 

Examination 

Regulatory with 
scrutiny 

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

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
1 
8 
0 
4 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
3 

6 
1 
1 
4 
3 
2 
1 
1 
0 
1 
0 
6 
7 
0 
2 
4 
7 
14 
8 
2 
10 
1 
1 
0 
15 
12 
3 
10 
4 

0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
1 
4 
0 
2 
0 
2 
0 
4 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

Operates under 
several 
procedures 
5 
1 
4 
5 
2 
3 
0 
1 
1 
1 
3 
5 
16 
2 
5 
0 
24 
3 
4 
1 
14 
1 
0 
1 
2 
22 
1 
15 
7 

TOTAL: 

11 
2 
5 
9 
6 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
2 
9 
4 
36 
18 
24 
3 
32 
3 
1 
1 
17 
34 
4* 
26 
14 

TOTAL: 

23 

* Including the appeal committee. 

126 

20 

149 

318 

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  procedures12  used  in  2019,  also 
reflects  the  intensity  of  work  in  general,  both  at  sector  level  and  in  individual  committees 
(Table III). 

12 

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 

2018 

2019 

2018 

2019 

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

11 
2 
5 
9 
6 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
2 
9 
4 
36 
18 
24 
3 
32 
3 
1 
1 
17 
34 
4 
26 
14 

95 
4 
5 
15 
0 
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 
* meetings/written procedure of the appeal committee 

TOTAL: 

318 

90 
4 
5 
11 
20 
13 
2 
5 
0 
7 
7 
16 
25 
3 
6 
5 
34 
45 
13 
1 
46 
9 
0 
0 
45 
107 
9 
37 
25 

590 

16 
1 
6 
12 
0 
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 

18 
1 
1 
15 
9 
14 
0 
0 
0 
3 
1 
6 
12 
9 
18 
2 
14 
16 
2 
9 
31 
8 
0 
1 
228 
476 
0 
18 
32 

944 

There  were  590  meetings  in  2019,  slightly  less  than  in  2018,  and  944  written  procedures, 
slightly more than in 2018.  

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  Commission13. 
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 2019, the European Parliament adopted 25 resolutions on the basis 
of  Article  11  of  the  Comitology  Regulation,  while  the  Council  did  not  adopt  any  such 
resolution. 

13 

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 

Opinions14 

Implementing Acts 
adopted 

 Regulatory procedure with 
scrutiny - measures 
adopted 

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

TAXUD 
TRADE 

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

2019 
111 
4 
7 
21 
9 
61 
1 
8 
0 
10 
7 
12 
26 
10 
28 
2 
69 
66 
7 
10 
62 
58 
0 
1 
228 
762 
20 
61 
68 

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

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

1456 

1633 

1729 

2019 
111 
3 
7 
23 
4 
59 
1 
6 
0 
8 
3 
4 
21 
6 
17 
1 
38 
21 
2 
6 
62 
58 
0 
5 
158 
733 
18 
58 
68 

1501 

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 

2019 
2 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
4 
10 
6 
4 
0 
0 
19 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
41 
0 
0 
0 

88 

The committees delivered 1729 opinions in 2019, slightly more than in the year before. The 
number  of  implementing  acts  adopted  following  a  committee  procedure  was  with  1501 
slightly higher than in 2018. The number of measures adopted under the regulatory procedure 
with scrutiny remained stable. 

2.3.  Meetings of the appeal committee 

The appeal committee met 6 times during 2019, 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 2019. 

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, 

14  

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

6 

 
  
 
 
 
                                                           
but it still appears in many existing basic acts and will continue to apply under those acts until 
they  are  aligned.  In  2019,  88  measures  were  adopted  according  to  the  regulatory  procedure 
with scrutiny (see Table V), about the same number as in 2018. The right to oppose was used 
once by the European Parliament in 2019. 

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

Regulatory procedure with 
scrutiny - measures 
adopted 
2 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
4 
10 
6 
4 
0 
0 
19 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
41 
0 
0 
0 

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 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 

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 
DEFIS 
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: 

88 

1 

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  2019,  broken  down  on  the  basis  of  the  different 
Commission departments concerned. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

In 2019, the activity of the committees continued at levels comparable to the previous years: 
there were 318 active committees, which held 590 meetings and 944 written procedures and 
delivered 1729 opinions.  

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

7