REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the working of committees during 2020
Date: 2021-09-09
Institutions: European Commission, Secretariat-General
Subjects: EU control, activity report, comitology, committee (EU), coronavirus disease, epidemic, official statistics, power of implementation

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 9.9.2021  COM(2021) 544 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the working of committees during 2020 {SWD(2021) 240 final}  
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the working of committees during 2020 

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 its annual report on the working of committees for 2020. 

The  report  gives  an  overview  of  developments  in  the  comitology  system  in  2020  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 2020 

In 2020, the committees operated in accordance with the procedures set out in the Comitology 
Regulation,  i.e.  the  advisory  (Article  4)  and  the  examination  (Article  5),  as  well  as  the 
regulatory procedure with scrutiny set out in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision2. 

The  outbreak  of  COVID-19  and  the  measures  taken  to  contain  it  severely  limited  the 
possibility of holding physical committee meetings. Most committee meetings were therefore 
held remotely. Remote meetings were treated as a committee meeting for the purposes of the 
Comitology  Register.  As  a  rule,  remote  committee  meetings  were  used  for  discussing  draft 
implementing acts and the vote was carried out by written procedure.  

A new Comitology Register3 was launched on 28 October 2020. It continues to comply with 
the  requirements  set  out  in  Article  10  of  the  Comitology  Regulation,  and  it  now  offers 
improved search criteria and committee pages, thereby making it easier to find information. 
The Register of Delegated and  Implementing Acts4 was also  launched on  28 October 2020, 
thereby  documenting  in  a  single  place  the  work  of  the  Commission  on  the  basis  of 
empowerments received from the legislator.  

As regards the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better 
Law-Making of 13 April 20165 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. 

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). 
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). 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/comitology-register/screen/home  
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/regdel/#/home 
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).  

1 

 
 
 
                                                           
In  2019,  it  was  agreed  to  align  64  basic  acts  providing  for  the  regulatory  procedure  with 
scrutiny to delegated and in a few cases implementing acts6. After this partial agreement on 
the Commission’s proposal, interinstitutional negotiations are continuing on the alignment of 
the  remaining  basic  acts  included  in  the  general  Commission  proposal7  and  in  its  proposal 
concerning  the  area  of  justice8.  During  2020,  negotiations  did  not  progress  due  to  the 
limitations related to COVID-19. 

Negotiations  are  still  ongoing  on  the  Commission  proposal  from  14  February  2017  on  a 
Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending  the  Comitology 
Regulation  (EU) No 182/20119. This  proposal  put forward  a number of targeted  changes to 
the  functioning  of  the  appeal  committee  to  address  no  opinion  situations  in  sensitive  areas. 
the  proposal  on 
The  European  Parliament  adopted 
17 December 2020. 

its  negotiation  mandate10  on 

As  announced  in  the  Better  Regulation  Communication11,  the  Commission  continues  to 
publish draft texts for delegated and important implementing acts for a four weeks feedback 
period, allowing stakeholders to submit comments. In 2020, 66 such draft acts were published 
for public feedback on the Commission’s ‘Have your say’ website12.  

2. 

OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES 

2.1. 

Number of committees  

This report focuses exclusively on comitology committees set up by the legislator to assist the 
Commission in the exercise of the implementing powers conferred upon it by basic legal acts. 
Other entities, in particular expert groups set up by the Commission itself, are not covered in 
this report.  

In 2020, 322 comitology committees were active (see Table I). This number includes all the 
committee configurations13. The figures for the previous year (on 31 December 2019) are also 
given for the purposes of comparison. There was only a very slight increase in the number of 
committees compared to 2019 (318). 

6 

7  

8 

9  

10  
11  

12  
13  

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). 
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). 
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://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0364_EN.html. 
Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European 
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Better regulation for better results 
- An EU agenda, COM(2015)0215, section 2.1. 
https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say_en  
In a few basic acts the legislator has provided for specific configurations of the committee in question. 

2 

 
 
                                                           
TABLE I — TOTAL NUMBER OF COMMITTEES 

Commission department 

2019 

2020 

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

11 
2 
5 
9 
5 

5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
2 
11 
2 
38 
19 
26 
3 
32 
3 
1 
1 
17 
34 
4 
26 
14 
322 

*  Including  the  appeal  committee  (for  the  purposes  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). 

Comitology committees can generally be classified according to the type of procedure under 
which  they  operate.  Table  II  shows  the  committees  active  in  2020  per  procedure  (advisory 
procedure, examination procedure, regulatory procedure with scrutiny). The committees that 
applied  multiple  procedures  have  been  separated  from  committees  operating  under  a  single 
procedure. 

TABLE II — NUMBER OF COMMITTEES BY PROCEDURE 

Commission department 
AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEFIS 

Type of procedure 

Advisory 

Examination 

Regulatory 
with scrutiny 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

5 
1 
1 
4 
3 

3 

Operates 
under several 
procedures 
6 
1 
4 
5 
2 

TOTAL: 

11 
2 
5 
9 
5 

 
 
 
INTPA/ 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 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
1 
8 
0 

4 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

3 

2 
1 
1 
0 
1 
0 
6 
7 
0 
4 
1 
9 
15 
9 
2 

8 

1 

1 

0 

15 

12 

3 

10 

5 

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

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 
0 
1 
1 
1 
3 
5 
16 
1 
5 
1 
24 
3 
5 
1 
18 

1 

0 

1 

2 

22 

1 

15 

6 

5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
1 
11 
2 
38 
19 
26 
3 
32 

3 

1 

1 

17 

34 

4* 

26 

14 

TOTAL: 

23 

128 

17 

154 

322 

* Including the appeal committee. 

4 

 
 
 
2.2. 

Number of meetings  

The  number  of  meetings  is  one  of  the  indicators  of  activity  at  comitology  level.  Combined 
with  the number of written procedures14, it reflects the intensity of work in general,  both  at 
sector level and in individual committees (Table III). 

TABLE III — NUMBER OF MEETINGS AND WRITTEN PROCEDURES 

Commission department 

Number of 
committees  

Meetings 

Written procedures 

2019 

2020 

2019 

2020 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEFIS 
INTPA/ 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 
5 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
5 
14 
27 
2 
11 
2 
38 
19 
26 
3 
32 
3 

1 

1 

17 

34 

4* 

26 

14 

* meetings/written procedure of the appeal committee 

TOTAL: 

322 

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 

79 
1 
7 
12 
14 
9 
2 
2 
5 
8 
3 
12 
20 
3 
14 
4 
35 
47 
9 
0 
44 
7 

0 

1 

32 

93 

6 

32 

13 

514 

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 

69 
5 
8 
17 
6 
51 
0 
1 
0 
6 
1 
3 
9 
11 
14 
3 
48 
38 
3 
15 
41 
66 

0 

0 

275 

678 

2 

26 

73 

1469 

There were 514 meetings in 2020, less than in 2019 (590). However, there were 1469 written 
procedures, an increase of approximately 50% compared to 2019. This very sharp increase in 
written procedures in 2020 is explained by the fact that from March 2020 onwards, it became 
impossible to hold meetings physically due to the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 and 
subsequent  restrictions.  As  a  result,  meetings  were  held  virtually  to  discuss  the  draft 

14  

Voting can take place at a regular committee meeting or, in duly justified cases, by written procedure, 
in accordance with Article 3(5) of the Comitology Regulation. 

5 

 
 
                                                           
implementing acts, then followed by a written procedure for the vote of the committee. This 
way  of  working  was  followed  because  the  written  procedure  provides  the  most  stable  and 
certain framework for the casting and counting of votes, and therefore it has been used in the 
majority of cases and votes have only taken place in a meeting in a small number of cases due 
to the urgency. 

2.3. 

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 adopted by the Commission15, quantifying 
the tangible ‘output’ of the committees (Table IV).  

TABLE IV — NUMBER OF OPINIONS AND IMPLEMENTING ACTS ADOPTED 

Commission department 

Opinions16 

AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEFIS 
INTPA/ DEVCO 
DIGIT 
EAC 
ECFIN 
ECHO 
EMPL 
ENER 
ENV 
ESTAT 
FISMA 
FPI 
GROW 
HOME 
JUST 
MARE 
MOVE 
NEAR 

OLAF 

REGIO 

RTD 

SANTE 
SG* 

TAXUD 

TRADE 

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 

TOTAL: 

1729 

2020 
102 
3 
10 
28 
8 
58 
1 
3 
10 
8 
3 
5 
19 
12 
11 
3 
61 
69 
3 
15 
59 
66 
0 

0 

275 

749 

1 

56 

80 

1718 

Implementing Acts 
adopted 

2019 

2020 

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 

100 
3 
6 
23 
7 
58 
1 
3 
10 
7 
2 
1 
11 
12 
12 
1 
44 
11 
2 
16 
59 
65 

0 

0 

191 

748 

1 

54 

81 

1501 

1529 

EP resolutions (art. 
11) 

2020 
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 

9 

0 

0 

0 

9 

*   Including opinions delivered by the appeal committee. However, adopted acts are counted only for the service resposnible 

for drafting them.  

15 

16  

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

6 

 
 
                                                           
The committees delivered 1718 opinions in 2020, slightly less than in 2019 (1729). At 1529, 
the  number  of  implementing  acts  adopted  following  a  committee  procedure  was  slightly 
higher than in 2019 (1501).  

The  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  have  a  right  of  scrutiny  under  Article  11  of  the 
Comitology Regulation. In 2020, the European Parliament adopted 9 resolutions on the basis 
of  Article  11  of  the  Comitology  Regulation,  while  the  Council  did  not  adopt  any.  All 
9 resolutions of the European Parliament referred to acts coming from DG SANTE. 

2.4.  Meetings of the appeal committee 

The appeal committee met 5 times during 2020, and discussed 11 draft implementing acts the 
Commission  referred  to  it.  The  appeal  committee  delivered  no  opinion  in  10  cases  and  a 
positive  opinion  in  1  of  them17.  The  Commission  decided  to  adopt  5  implementing  acts 
following no opinion in 2020. 

TABLE V — ACTIVITY OF THE APPEAL COMMITTEE 

Commission department 

Number of meetings of 
the appeal committee 

Number of opinions of the 
appeal committee 

MOVE 
SANTE 
TRADE 
TOTAL: 

2020 
1 
318 
1 
5 

2020 
1 
9 
1 
11 

Number of acts adopted 
following an opinion of the 
appeal committee 
2020 
1 
319 
1 
5 

2.5. 

Use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny  

The Comitology Regulation maintained the effects of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny 
because  existing  basic  acts  refer  to  it20.  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 the respective empowerments are aligned to empowerments for delegated or 
implementing acts. In 2020, 29 measures were adopted according to the regulatory procedure 
with scrutiny (see Table V), significantly lower than in 2019 when that number stood at 88. 
The right to oppose was used 4 times in 2020 by the European Parliament and was not used 
by  the  Council.  In  2019,  the  European  Parliament  had  opposed  once  to  a  measure  adopted 
according to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, and the Council had not used this right. 

17  
18  

19  

20  

Further details are available in the accompanying staff working document. 
In addition to these meetings, the appeal committee was consulted twice in a written procedure by DG 
SANTE in 2020. 
In 2020, the Commission adopted two acts on which the appeal committee was consulted in 2019, and 
nine of the draft implementing acts submitted to the appeal committee in 2020 in an area of competence 
of  DG  SANTE  were  adopted  in  January  2021,  as  described  in  the  accompanying  staff  working 
document. 
Article 12, second paragraph of the Comitology Regulation. 

7 

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

Commission department 
AGRI 
BUDG 
CLIMA 
CNECT 
DEFIS 
INTPA/ 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: 

Regulatory procedure with 
scrutiny - measures 
adopted 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
5 
0 
4 
0 
15 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
29 
0 
0 
0 
55 

European Parliament 
opposed adoption of 
draft measures  
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 
0 
0 
0 
4 

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 
0 

3. 

DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEES 

The  staff  working  document  accompanying  this  report  provides  detailed  information  about 
the work of the individual committees in 2020. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The 2020 activity of the committees continued at levels comparable to previous years, with a 
notable  increase  in  the  number  of  written  procedures  in  the  context  of  the  COVID-19 
pandemic: there were 322 active committees, who held 514 meetings, carried out 1469 written 
procedures and delivered 1718 opinions.  

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

8