Updated: July 2023

Many people see the European Union (EU) as a rather abstract organisation whose functioning is almost impossible to understand.
That is why very few people have set out to understand how the EU is structured, what purpose this international organisation serves and how it takes decisions.

However, as EU citizens, it is enormously important to be aware of these things, as EU decisions have a direct impact on our daily lives.
It is therefore necessary to raise awareness of the procedures that apply when the EU sets its political agenda and implements it through new legislation.

Thus, we provide here a brief explanation of the EU's legislative procedures as well as of the difference between the various types of texts that are proposed and adopted on a regular basis.

Historical Background
Historically, what gave rise to the establishment of the European Community, which later became the European Union, was the wish for perpetual peace on the European continent after the death and destruction caused by the Second World War. In order to achieve this peace, French foreign minister Robert Schumann suggested that it was necessary for the European states to cooperate and attain such a level of solidarity that was between them is practically impossible.
Thus, the European Coal and Steel Community was created to harmonise the production of these two resources between France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

In the following decades, the European Community was expanded, both in terms of its number of member states and of its competences, until it was formally transformed into the EU in 1992 with the Maastricht Treaty, which was further streamlined in 2009 with the Lisbon Treaty following failed efforts to introduce a European Constitution.

One of the primary functions of the EU is to adopt new rules and harmonise the legislative framework across Europe.
In ratifying the EU Treaties, the member states have conferred part of their legislative sovereignty in some areas to the EU. This means the European legislation has primacy over the national legislation, including the constitutional law, and the member states are legally obliged to adhering to the rules set forth by the EU.


EU and National Legislative Competences
The areas in which the EU can legislate are stipulated in the EU Treaties (Treaty on European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).
In the following areas, the EU has exclusive competences, meaning only the EU can legislate in these areas:
- The customs union,
- Competition rules for the single market,
- Monetary policy (for the eurozone countries),
- Trade and international agreements
- Marine plants and animals regulated by the common fisheries policy.

In a larger number of areas, the EU has shared competences, meaning both the EU and the individual states can legislate in the areas (however, the states can only legislate if there is no existing EU legislation, in which case EU legislation has primacy over national legislation):
- The single market,
- Employment and social affairs,
- Economic, social and territorial cohesion,
- Agriculture,
- Fisheries,
- Environment,
- Consumer protection,
- Transport,
- Trans-European networks,
- Energy,
- Justice and fundamental rights,
- Migration and home affairs,
- Public health (for the aspects defined in Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union),
- Research and space,
- Development cooperation and humanitarian aid.

In yet other areas, the EU has supporting competences, meaning the EU has no executive power in these areas, which are at the sole legislative discretion of the individual states, but can support, coordinate or complement the actions of the member states:
- public health,
- Industry,
- Culture,
- Tourism,
- Education and training, youth and sport,
- Civil protection,
- Administrative cooperation.

Finally, the EU has special competences in some areas, meaning it can under some circumstances take further action than what is otherwise stipulated in the Treaties or play a special role in the decisional process in these areas:
- Coordination of economic and employment policies,
- Definition and implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy,
- The ‘flexibility clause’, which under strict conditions enables the EU to take action outside its normal areas of responsibility.


The EU's Legislative Procedure
At present, the EU consists in 7 primary institutions: the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the European Court of Auditors.
The European Council is comprised of the heads of government of all the member states as well as the president of the Commission, and defines the overall political direction and priorities of the EU by adopting so-called conclusions on various issues of concern and the actions that are necessary to take or goals to reach.
The European Commission is comprised of a president who has been nominated by the European Council and approved by Parliament, and 27 Commissioners (1 from each member state) who have been nominated by their respective member states and approved by the European Parliament. The Commission is the EU's legislative authority, meaning it is the body who has the power to propose new legislation, is responsible for enforcing the EU's laws and for managing the EU's policies.
The European Parliament currently consists of 705 deputies, elected directly by the citizens of the member states through universal suffrage for a period of 5 years at a time. The Parliament is one of two institutions charged with the negociation and formal adoption of the EU's legislative texts.
The Council of the European Union (the Council), consisting of the ministers of each of the member states in various political areas, negociates with the Parliament and formally adopts new legislative texts.

When the EU makes new decisions, it most often does so according to what is known as the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly called the codecision procedure.
In general, there are two legislative procedures: the ordinary legislative procedure and the two special legislative procedures.


The Ordinary Legislative Procedure
As noted above, it is the Commission as the EU's executive body who proposes the new legislative texts, which are drafted based on what is called an impact assessment, where the Commission undertakes surveys and consults citizens, civil society actors as well as public and private industry actors to determine the relevance and scope of the proposed text.
Only the Commission has the power to propose legal acts on its own initiative, but the Parliament and the Council can each request for the Commission to propose a new text on a given topic. In order to do so, the Parliament must obtain a majority of its deputies in favour of the request, and the Council must obtain a simple majority of the ministers.

Under the ordinary legislative procedure, both Parliament and the Council must adopt a legislative proposal for the text to be formally approved and come into effect.

Once the Commission has finished the impact assessment and formulated the draft legislative text, it submits the text to the Parliament, who reads the texts and either approves it or proposes amendments.
The draft is then forwarded to the Council, who again either approves the text or proposes amendments.
This process is called the first reading.

If both the Parliament and the Council approve the text, it is formally adopted and comes into effect.
If, on the other hand, either or both of the institutions propose amendments, a second reading takes place, after which the proposed text is either approved or further amendments are proposed.

Should the Parliament and Council not reach an agreement on the proposed text after the second reading, a conciliation committee will be convened, in which the Commission mediates between the Parliament and the Council in order to reach a compromise.
A formal third reading will then take place, after which the proposal is either approved or definitively rejected.

The legislative text will enter into force once the two bodies have voted it through and the text has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.


Special Legislative Procedures
As mentioned above, in addition to the ordinary legislative procedure, there are two special legislative procedures.
The special procedures are used in particular for legislation on common tax rules, foreign policy issues and ecodesign regulations, and can be initiated solely by the European Commission.

One of the special procedures, called the consent procedure, allows for the the Council to adopt a legislative proposal unilaterally unless Parliament votes it down by an absolute majority.
Parliament does not have the power to amend the proposal under the consent procedure, but on the other hand, the Council can also not disregard Parliament's rejection of the proposal.

The second special procedure, called the consultation procedure, entitles Parliament to amending the proposal, but the Council is not obliged to take Parliament's position into account and can adopt the proposal no matter what.
Thus, the only condition of the consultation procedure is that Parliament has the right to be consulted before the proposal is adopted.


Regulations and Directives
The implementation of the final legislative text depends on whether it is a regulation or a directive.

A regulation lays down common rules which all Member States of the European Union must comply with in the same way.
This applies, for example, to GDPR legislation, internal market rules, including how energy-efficient appliances should be, how easy they should be to repair and how they should be labelled, e.g. for energy efficiency.

A directive sets common objectives and rules for Member States, which they themselves decide how to achieve by adapting their national legislation. This applies, for example, to rules for electricity supply, energy communities and the use of single-use plastic. A regulation therefore has a more direct impact on citizens and businesses than a directive, as it enters into force simultaneously in all Member States at a predetermined time. In the case of the Directive, there is a so-called transposition period, during which the Directive is incorporated into national law. This period lasted in 2021 on average 8.6 months from adoption; but can be up to two years.
For more information about the transposition of EU directives into national law, see here.

For more detailed descriptions about the EU proposals see links at the individual proposals and/or search at EU's web site http://europa.eu/


Implementing and Delegated Acts
Following the final adoption of a law, the Commission may adopt delegated and implementing acts, which are non-legislative acts of general application allowing the Commission to react quickly and flexibly on certain matters based on the evolution of its technical knowledge.

It goes for both Implementing and delegated acts that the Commission must consult a committee in which all EU countries are represented, and it is also possible for citizens and civil society actors to comment on the draft acts.

The Parliament and the Council dispose of a two-month period to object to the delegated act.
Exceptionally and on duly justified imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may also be empowered to adopt the implementing act before consulting a committee (so-called immediately applicable implementing acts). However, these immediately applicable implementing acts may only apply for a maximum period of six months, if the relevant legislative act does not specify otherwise.

Implementing Acts
The implementing act is used in areas where harmonised implementation of the law is necessary, such as taxation, food safety or health, and formulates detailed rules allowing the uniform implementation of legally binding acts.
In the case of implementing acts, the committees are so-called comitology committees composed of one representative from each EU country and a chairperson, who is a Commission official.

There are two different procedures for comitology committees, the first being the advisory procedure and the other being the examination procedure.
The examination procedure requires a qualified majority in order for an opinion to be adopted, while the advisory procedure requires a simple majority.

Under the examination procedure, member states may, under certain conditions, block the adoption of an implementing act.
If the committee's opinion is positive, the Commission adopts the act, whereas it may not adopt the implementing act if the committee's opinion is negative.
If the Commission is prevented from adopting a draft implementing act, the draft may under certain conditions be referred to an appeal committee.

In the advisory procedure, the committee delivers its opinion by simple majority, but the opinion is non-binding and the Commission decides on its own whether to adopt the draft implementing act, taking into account the committee's opinion.

Delegated Acts
A delegated act supplements the adopted law to clarify its scope or amend some technical details, but it may not change the essential elements of the law.
In order for the Commission to be able to adopt delegated acts, the relevant legislative act must explicitly contain a delegation of powers.

For delegated acts, committees are composed of expert groups.
To assess the proposed delegated act, the Council sets down a working party comprised of the member states' representatives in the relevant area, who expresses a Council decision prepared in cooperation between the working party and the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper).

For the Parliament's part, the relevant committee identifies a rapporteur, who is responsible for the examination of the proposed delegated acts and submits their assessment to the committee, who then tables a motion to the plenary session where the deputies vote either in favour or against the proposed delegated act.

If no objection has been raised, or if both the Parliament and the Council inform the Commission before the expiry of the objection period that no objections have been raised, the act enters into force at the relevant time.

Both the Council and the European Parliament may revoke the delegated power at any time during the period for which the power to adopt delegated acts has been conferred upon the Commission, with ns no need for a delegated act to be presented by the Commission for this procedure of revocation to be triggered.



Return to EU Policy