The European Parliament adopted, by 607 votes to 11 with 4 abstentions, a decision on amendments to Parliament's Rules of Procedure concerning the referral of proposals for legally binding acts to committees and the procedure for solving conflicts of competence.

Parliament decided to make the following amendments to its Rules of Procedure:

Rule 48 - Consideration of legally binding acts

The President shall refer proposals for legally binding acts received from other institutions or Member States to the committee responsible for consideration. The other committees shall be informed of such referral at the same time.

Another amendment to Rule 48 stipulates that the President shall announce the referral in Parliament after receiving the proposal in all official languages of the European Union and, except in cases of requests for the application of the urgent procedure pursuant to Rule 163, after, where relevant, any conflict of competence between committees has been settled in accordance with Rule 211(2). Once it has been announced in Parliament, the referral shall be made public on Parliament’s website.

Rule 211: Questions of competence

If a standing committee declares itself not to be competent to consider an item, or if a conflict arises over the competence of two or more standing committees, the question of competence shall be submitted to the Conference of Committee Chairs within two weeks of the referral to committee provided for in Rule 48(1). Weeks without parliamentary activities and weeks set aside for external parliamentary activities shall not be taken into account for the purposes of that deadline.

At the latest at its second meeting after the expiry of the deadline laid down in paragraph 1, the Conference of Committee Chairs or its Chair shall issue a recommendation. The Conference of Presidents shall take a decision on the basis of that recommendation within six weeks after its transmission. If the Conference of Presidents fails to take a decision within that period, the recommendation shall be deemed to have been approved.

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs adopted the report by Gabriele BISCHOFF (S&D, DE) on amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure concerning the referral of proposals for legally binding acts to committees and the procedure for solving conflicts of competence.

Rule 48 - Consideration of legally binding acts

Members proposed that the President should refer proposals for legally binding acts received from other institutions or Member States to the committee responsible, for consideration. The other committees should be informed of the referral at the same time.

Another amendment to Rule 48 stipulates that the President should announce the referral in Parliament after receiving the proposal in all official languages of the European Union and, except in cases of requests for the application of the urgent procedure pursuant to Rule 163, after,

where relevant, any conflict of competence between committees has been settled in accordance with Rule 211(2). Once it has been announced in Parliament, the referral should be made public on Parliament’s website.

Rule 211 : Procedure for the consultation by a committee of confidential information in a committee meeting in camera

With a view to shortening the procedure for solving conflicts of competence , the deadline for raising such conflicts is reduced to two weeks. For that same purpose, its beginning is linked to the referral to committee in accordance with Rule 48(1) and not to the later announcement in plenary. The short deadline of two weeks is only manageable, if weeks without parliamentary activities and weeks set aside for external parliamentary activities do not count for this deadline

With a view to avoiding delays , this modification introduces a deadline for the Conference of Committee Chairs or its Chair to issue a recommendation. For the purpose of clarification, the deadline of six weeks for a decision of the Conference of Presidents starts when this recommendation is transmitted to the Conference of Presidents.