The

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

adopts

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

through a variety of procedures. The procedure used for a given legislative proposal depends on the policy area in question. Most legislation needs to be proposed by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and approved by the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

and

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

to become law. Over the years the power of the

within the legislative process has been greatly increased from being limited to giving its non-binding opinion or excluded from the legislative process altogether, to participating with the Council in the legislative process. The power to amend the

Treaties of the European Union The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedure ...

, sometimes referred to as the Union's primary law, or even as its ''de facto'' constitution, is reserved to the member states and must be ratified by them in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. An exception to this are so-called passerelle clauses in which the legislative procedure used for a certain policy area can be changed without formally amending the treaties.

Participants

Since December 2009, after the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two Treaty, treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all Member stat ...

came into force, three EU institutions have been the main participants in the legislative process: the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, with the national parliaments of the EU playing a further role. The legislative and budgetary functions of the union are jointly exercised by the Parliament and the Council, which are referred to as the Union legislator in a protocol to the

EU treaties The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedure ...

. The precise nature of this organisation has been discussed extensively in academic literature, with some categorising the European Union as

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

or tricameral, though the European Union itself has not accepted such categorisation and it is generally considered to be ''

sui generis ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to. Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. ...

'' by observers, given the unique dynamics between the legislative bodies not found in traditional tricameralism. Political System of the European Union

European Commission

The Commission has a virtual monopoly on the introduction of legislation into the legislative process, a power which gives the Commission considerable influence as an agenda setter for the EU as a whole. And while the Commission frequently introduces legislation at the behest of the Council or upon the suggestion of Parliament, what form any legislative proposals introduced take is up to the Commission. Under the ordinary legislative procedure (see below), the negative opinion from the Commission also forces the Council to vote by unanimity rather than majority except when a conciliation committee has been set up. There are also limited instances where the Commission can adopt legislation without the approval of other bodies (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

European Parliament

The European Parliament's 720 members are directly elected every five years by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

. It organises itself as a normal multi-party parliament in conducting most of its work in its committees and sitting in political groupings rather than national delegations. However, its political groups are very weak due to their status as broad ideological groups of existing national parties. The Parliament's powers have grown considerably since the 1950s as new legislative procedures granted more equality between Parliament and Council. It has also become a requirement that the composition of the European Commission be subject to a vote of approval as a whole by the Parliament. However, the choice of candidates remains the jurisdiction of the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission retains the sole power of legislative initiative. Taken into account that the Commission (and also the Council) are the antagonists of the parliament in the system of separation of powers this is considered a democratic deficit.

Council of the European Union

The Council of the EU (also known as "the council of ministers" and simply "the council") represents the national governments of member states, and hence its composition is essentially the number of member states (27) though votes are weighted according to the population of each state (see procedures below for clarification). As such, it does not sit according to political groups and rather than conducting most of its work in committees, much of its work is done by its preparatory bodies (the Working Parties and

COREPER COREPER, from French ''Comité des représentants permanents'', is the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union, made up of the head or deputy head of mission from the EU member states in Brussels. COREPER's defined role ...

National parliaments

The national parliaments of

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often de ...

have an "early warning mechanism" whereby if one third raise an objection – a "yellow card" – on the basis that the '' principle of subsidiarity'' has been violated, then the proposal must be reviewed. If a majority do so – an "orange card" – then the Council or Parliament can vote it down immediately. If the logistical problems of putting this into practice are overcome, then the power of the national parliaments could be decried as an extra legislature, without a common debate or physical location: dubbed by EU Observer a "virtual third chamber".

Ordinary legislative procedure

The ordinary legislative procedure is the main legislative procedure by which directives and regulations are adopted. It was formerly known as the codecision procedure, and is sometimes referred to as the '

community method The community method (also known as the Union method) refers to decision making processes in the European Union (EU) which emphasize the roles of the supranational decision making bodies such as the European Commission, the European Parliament and ...

' as a contrast to the ' intergovernmental methods' which can variously refer to the

consultation procedure The European Union adopts legislation through a variety of procedures. The procedure used for a given legislative proposal depends on the policy area in question. Most legislation needs to be proposed by the European Commission and approved by ...

or to the open method of co-ordination. Article 294

TFEU The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establish ...

outlines the ordinary legislative procedure in the following manner. The Commission submits a legislative proposal to the Parliament and Council. At the first reading Parliament adopts its position. If the Council approves the Parliament's wording then the act is adopted. If not, it shall adopt its own position and pass it back to Parliament with explanations. The Commission also informs Parliament of its position on the matter. At the second reading, the act is adopted if Parliament approves the Council's text or fails to take a decision. The Parliament may reject the Council's text, leading to a failure of the law, or modify it and pass it back to the Council. The Commission gives its opinion once more. Where the Commission has rejected amendments in its opinion, the Council must act unanimously rather than by majority. If, within three months of receiving Parliament's new text, the Council approves it, then it is adopted. If it does not, the Council President, with the agreement of the Parliament President, convenes the Conciliation Committee composed of the Council and an equal number of MEPs (with the attendance as moderator of the Commission). The committee draws up a joint text on the basis of the two positions. If within six weeks it fails to agree on a common text, then the act has failed. If it succeeds and the committee approves the text, then the Council and Parliament (acting by majority) must then approve said text (third reading). If either fails to do so, the act is not adopted. The procedure was introduced with the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

as the codecision procedure and was initially intended to replace the Cooperation procedure (see below). The codecision procedure was amended by the

Treaty of Amsterdam The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...

and the number of legal bases where the procedure applies was greatly increased by both the latter treaty and the

Treaty of Nice The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European C ...

. It was renamed the ordinary legislative procedure and extended to nearly all areas such as

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

, transport, structural funds, the entire budget and the former third pillar by the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

Trilogue

The trilogue is an informal type of meeting used in the EU's ordinary legislative procedure. It involves representatives of the

(EP), the

Council of the EU The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

and the

. The trilogues are equally tripartite meetings, although the EC operates as a mediator between the EP and the Council. The trilogue negotiations aim at bringing the three institutions to an agreement, to fast-track the ordinary legislative procedure. The expression "formal trilogue" is sometimes used to describe meetings of the Conciliation Committee, which take place between the second and the third reading of a legislative proposal. However, the term trilogue is mostly referred to interinstitutional informal negotiationsRobert Schütze, An Introduction to European Law, Cambridge University Press, 2015, p. 45 that can take place in any stage of the ordinary legislative procedure, from the first stage to the stage of the formal conciliation procedure. The agreements reached in trilogues still need to be approved through the formal procedures of each of the three institutions. Trilogues have been "formalised" in 2007 in a joint declaration of the EP, the Council and the EC but they are not regulated by primary legislation. The evolution of the European integration process, together with the evolution of EP's role as co-legislator have produced an increase in the number of the trilogue meetings. During 2009–2014 legislative term, when the

came into force and the co-decision procedure became ordinary legislative procedure – establishing the role of the EP and the Council of the EU as co-legislators – 85% of legislative acts were approved in first reading, 13% were approved in second reading while only 2% were included in the conciliation procedure. This trend corresponds to an increase in the number of trilogues (over 1500 in the same period) and it is seen as a proof of the effectiveness of the trilogues in fast tracking the legislative procedure. The principal tool used in trilogues is the four column document, a working sheet divided in four sections, each of them comprising the positions of the three EU institutions. The first column is dedicated to the position of the EC, the second one to the position of the EP, the third one to the position of the Council. The fourth and final column is left to the compromised text that is meant to emerge. However, although the first two positions are public, the other two have often textual elements that have not been adopted and the content of the fourth column remains inaccessible to public. Trilogues have been criticised for a lack of transparency and democratic legitimacy. The

European Ombudsman The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing ...

, the EU body responsible of investigating complaints about poor administration by EU institutions and other bodies, in 2015 has launched a strategic inquiry to establish the need for a reform of the trilogue, setting out proposals for more transparency.

Special legislative procedures

The treaties have provision for special legislative procedures to be used in sensitive areas. These see the Council adopt alone with just the involvement of the other. Notable procedures are the consultation and consent procedures, though various others are used for specific cases.

Consultation procedure

Under this procedure the Council, acting either unanimously or by a qualified majority depending on the policy area concerned, can adopt legislation based on a proposal by the European Commission after consulting the European Parliament. While being required to consult Parliament on legislative proposals, the Council is not bound by Parliament's position. In practice the Council would frequently ignore whatever Parliament might suggest and even sometimes reach an agreement before receiving Parliament's opinion. However, the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

has ruled that the Council must wait for Parliament's opinion and the Court has struck down legislation that the Council adopted before Parliament gave its opinion. Before the

Single European Act The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European Community an objective of establishing a single market by 31 December 1992, and a forerunner of the European Union's Common Fore ...

, the Consultation procedure was the most widely used legislative procedure in the then

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. Consultation is still used for legislation concerning internal market exemptions and competition law. The procedure is also used in relation to the Union's advisory bodies such as the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

and the

Economic and Social Committee The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of representatives from employers' associations, workers' unions (trade unions) and c ...

that are required to be consulted under a range of areas under the treaties affecting their area of expertise. Such a procedure takes place in addition to consultation with the European Parliament or the other legislative procedures.

Consent procedure

In the consent procedure (formerly assent procedure), the Council can adopt legislation based on a proposal by the European Commission after obtaining the consent of Parliament. Thus Parliament has the legal power to accept or reject any proposal but no legal mechanism exists for proposing amendments. Parliament has however provided for

conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute rely on a neutral third-party known as the conciliator, to assist them in solving their dispute. The conciliator, who may meet with the parties both sep ...

committee and a procedure for giving interim reports where it can address its concerns to the Council and threaten to withhold its consent unless its concerns are met. This applies to admission of members, methods of withdrawal, subsidiary general legal basis provision and combating discrimination.

Incorporation into domestic law

The domestic legal systems of Member States are mostly a legacy of different historical

each of which has to be adapted in order to play an essential role in ensuring the standards of

European Union law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

are implemented effectively, and uniformly. Member States

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

s have a EU

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

obligation to amend their existing

primary and secondary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislature, legislative and executive (government), executive branches of ...

in a way that is reasonably consistent and comprehensible to individuals and businesses in order to enforce EU legislation and directives consistently and reliably across all the various

jurisdictions Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple levels ...

of each

member state of the European Union The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of Lists of member states of the European Union, 27 member states that are party to the EU's Treaties of the European Union, founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and ...

in a timely manner.

Non-legislative procedures

Commission and Council acting alone

Under this procedure the Council can adopt legal acts proposed by the Commission without requiring the opinion of Parliament. The procedure is used when setting the

common external tariff A common external tariff (CET) must be introduced when a group of countries forms a customs union. The same customs duties, import quotas, preferences or other non-tariff barriers to trade apply to all goods entering the area, regardless of which ...

(Article 31 (ex Article 26)) and for negotiating trade agreements under the EU's Common Commercial Policy (Article 207(3)). However, formally speaking these acts are not legislative acts.

Commission acting alone

In a few limited areas, the Commission has the authority to adopt regulatory or technical legislation without consulting or obtaining the consent of other bodies. The Commission can adopt legal acts on its own initiative concerning monopolies and concessions granted to companies by Member States and concerning the right of workers to remain in a Member State after having been employed there (Article 45(3)(d) TFEU). Two directives have been adopted using this procedure: one on transparency between member states and companiesDir. 80/723

980 Year 980 ( CMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) at Margut, ending the Franco-Germa ...

OJ L195/35 and another on competition in the telecommunications sector.Dir. 88/301

988 Year 988 ( CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organiz ...

OJ L131/73 Formally speaking, these acts are not legislative acts.

Treaty revisions

The 2009

created two different ways for further amendments of the European Union treaties: an ordinary revision procedure which is broadly similar to the past revision process in that it involves convening an intergovernmental conference, and a simplified revision procedure whereby Part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which deals with internal policy and action of the Union, could be amended by a unanimous decision of the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

, provided there is no change to the field of competence of the EU, and subject to ratification by all member states in the usual manner. The Treaty also provides for the Passerelle Clause which allows the European Council to unanimously decide to replace unanimous voting in the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

with

qualified majority voting The procedures for voting in the Council of the European Union are described in the treaties of the European Union. The Council of the European Union (or simply "Council" or "Council of Ministers") has had its voting procedure amended by subse ...

in specified areas with the previous consent of the European Parliament, and move from a special legislative procedure to the ordinary legislative procedure.

Ordinary revision procedure

# Proposals to amend the treaties are submitted by a Member State, the European Parliament or the European Commission to the Council of Ministers who, in turn, submit them to the European Council and notify member states. There are no limits on what kind of amendments can be proposed. # The European Council, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission, votes to consider the proposals on the basis of a simple majority, and then either: #* The President of the European Council convenes a convention containing representatives of national parliaments, governments, the European Parliament and the European Commission, to further consider the proposals. In due course, the convention submits its final recommendation to the European Council. #* Or the European Council decides, with the agreement of the European Parliament, not to convene a convention and sets the terms of reference for the inter-governmental conference itself. # The President of the European Council convenes an inter-governmental conference consisting of representatives of each member-state's government. The conference drafts and finalises a treaty based on the convention's recommendation or on the European Council's terms of reference. # EU leaders sign the treaty. # All member states must then ratify the treaty "in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements", if it is to come into force.

Simplified revision procedure

# Proposals to amend Part three of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union are submitted by a Member State, the European Parliament or the European Commission to the Council of Ministers who, in turn, submit them to the European Council and notify member states. Proposed amendments cannot increase the competences of the Union. # The European Council, after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission, votes to adopt a decision amending Part three on the basis of the proposals by unanimity. # All member states must approve the decision "in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements", if it is to come into force.

The Passerelle Clause

The Passerelle Clause allows for the changing of voting procedures without amending the EU treaties. Under this clause the European Council can, after receiving the consent of the European Parliament, vote unanimously to: * allow the Council of Ministers to act on the basis of qualified majority in areas where they used to have to act on the basis of unanimity, except for decisions with defence or military implications. * allow for legislation to be adopted on the basis of the ordinary legislative procedure where it previously was to be adopted on the basis of a special legislative procedure. A decision of the European Council to use either of these provisions can come into effect only if, six months after all national parliaments had been given notice of the decision, none objects.

Legal acts

Legal acts resulting from these procedures can come in a number of forms. A

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

is a law that has direct effect; for example the roaming charges regulation which immediately set price limits on mobile phone calls made in another EU state. A directive needs to be transposed, within certain limits, into national law; for example the

Copyright Duration Directive Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights is a European Union directive in the field of EU copyright law, made under the internal market provisions of the Treaty ...

which was transposed in Greece as ''Law No. 2557/1997'' and Ireland as ''European Communities (Term of protection of Copyright) Regulations, 1995''. A decision has direct effect, but only relating to a specific person or entity, and there are also various other non-binding instruments.

Notes

References

* *
Tobler, Christa
Beglinger, Jacques (2018), ''Essential EU Law in Charts'' (4th ed.), Budapest: HVG-ORAC / E.M.Meijers Institute of Legal Studies, Leiden University. . See Chapter 5 (in particula
Chart 5, 5 = p.3

www.eur-charts.eu
*

External links

European Parliament: Procedures
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