Delegated and Implementing Acts: The New Worlds of Comitology - Implications for European and National Public Administrations. EIPAscope 01/2011

Hardacre, Alan and Kaeding, Michael (2011) Delegated and Implementing Acts: The New Worlds of Comitology - Implications for European and National Public Administrations. EIPAscope 01/2011. EIPAScope, 2011 (1). pp. 29-32. ISSN 1025-6253

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Abstract

The Treaty of Lisbon (TFEU) significantly changes the theory and practice of the delegation of executive powers to the European Commission, powers which resulted in 14,522 legally binding implementing measures during the sixth legislature under the Barroso I Commission (2004-2009) (in comparison to only 454 legislative acts). The Treaty of Lisbon fundamentally alters the way this system works, and in turn the way everyone works with it, especially European and national public administrations. From obscure and informal beginnings in the field of purely technical agricultural markets in the 1960s, the Lisbon Treaty has in fact made the so-called ‘comitology’ system (and the name) partially redundant. Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, there are now two new legal bases; Delegated Acts (Article 290) and Implementing Acts (Article 291). This means that the ‘comitology’ world has been split into two. The new system makes a clear separation between tasks delegated to the Commission that only require pure implementation, Implementing Acts, and those that allow the Commission to amend, supplement or delete non-essential elements of the legislative act, Delegated Acts. The main changes in the Lisbon system are related to this new category of Delegated Acts, where committees cease to exist and the legislators have equal rights to object to individual Delegated Acts or even to revoke the delegation to the Commission altogether. Under this new situation the Parliament thus stands on an equal footing with the Council. The implications of these changes are considerable, in both practical and political terms, and therefore require serious attention from the EU institutions, Member States, and outside stakeholders. This short article attempts to address the key changes and questions. Based on the institutions’ Common Understanding on Delegated Acts and the new ‘Comitology’ Regulation 182/2011/EU, which entered into force on 1 March 2011, we present the two new avenues and highlight all the important changes. We conclude with our considerations of the practical implications of the new Lisbon system for European and national public administrations.

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