The European Parliament adopted by 480 votes to 48 with 15 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council adapting to Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union a number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS).

To recall, the Commission committed itself to assessing by the end of 2012 how many legislative acts containing references to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny remained in force, in order to prepare the appropriate legislative initiatives and thus complete the adaptation to the new legal framework. The stated objective was that, by the end of the seventh term of Parliament , all provisions referring to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny would have been removed from all legislative instruments.

The Commission put forward three proposals fulfilling this commitment (Please see 2013/0220(COD ) and 2013/0365(COD) ).

This resolution is related to a proposal covering 160 legislative acts in various policy areas.

The position adopted by Parliament in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure amended the proposal.

Parliament’s amendments proposed that the power to adopt delegated acts should be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from the date of entry into force of the regulation (and not for an indeterminate period). The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

Owing to the highly technical and complex nature of the delegated acts in certain policy areas, Parliament proposed that the time limit for objections to the act should be three months , extendable by a further three months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted the report by József SZÁJER (EPP, HU) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council adapting to Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union a number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS).

At the time of adopting Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on comitology, the Commission undertook to assess by the end of 2012 the legislative acts containing references to RPS that remained in force, in order to prepare the appropriate legislative initiatives to complete the adaptation to the new legal framework. The overall objective was that, by the end of the 7th term of the Parliament, all provisions referring to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny would have been removed from all legislative instruments.

In keeping with that statement and further to the screening of existing legislation, the Commission put forward three proposals for a regulation adapting to Article 290 TFEU a number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS) . (Please see 2013/0220(COD) and 2013/0365(COD) ).

This report is related to a proposal covering 160 legislative acts in various policy areas. The Rapporteur proposed to the relevant committees that the three proposals should be regarded as a package, subject to the same timetable and adopted as soon as possible, so that the alignment exercise can be completed, ideally, by the end of the current legislative term. The report contains a limited number of amendments that were suggested by the specialised committees in their opinions.

The committee’s amendments propose that the power to adopt delegated acts should be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from the date of entry into force of the regulation (and not for an indeterminate period). The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

Owing to the highly technical and complex nature of the delegated acts in the remit of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the report proposes that the time limit for objections to the act should be three months , extendable by a further three months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.

PURPOSE: to align a number of legal acts to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Article 290, powers delegated to the Commission).

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: the Treaty of Lisbon introduced the possibility for the legislator to delegate power to the Commission to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of a legislative act.

The measures which can be covered by delegations of powers, as referred to in Article 290(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), correspond in principle to those covered by the regulatory procedure with scrutiny established by Article 5a of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (the Comitology Decision).

It is necessary to adapt to Article 290 of the TFEU a number of legal acts already in force which provide for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.

The overall objective of the Commission is that, by the end of the 7th term of the Parliament, all provisions referring to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS) would have been removed from all legislative instruments .

At the end of 2012, 288 legislative acts still containing references to the RPS were identified. Around 60 of them are currently in the legislative process and therefore are not concerned by the present proposal.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the Commission has carried out a careful examination of all legislative instruments still referring to the RPS in order to analyse whether the RPS measures covered by the Comitology Decision meet the criteria of Article 290 TFEU.

LEGAL BASIS: Articles 33, 43(2), 53(1), 62, 64(2), 91, 100(2), 114, 153(2)(b), 168(4)(b), 172, 192(1), 207 and 338(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: this proposal is one of three proposals adapting a number of legislative instruments referring to the RPS to the criteria laid down in the Treaty. It provides for a transformation of the RPS into delegated acts for the basic legislative acts which are listed in the annex. It is based on the legal bases of all the basic acts concerned.

Accordingly, the present framework regulation provides that where instruments listed in the annex make reference to the procedure referred to in Article 5a of the Comitology Decision, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts .

In cases where there are curtailed time-limits for opposition, in accordance with Article 5a(5)(b) of the Comitology Decision, the proposal provides for a time-limit for objection of 1 month.

The proposal adapts the urgency procedure according to Article 5a(6) of the Comitology Decision to the urgency procedure for delegated acts.

Another separate regulation is proposed for the legislative acts in the area of Justice which refer to the RPS.