Implementing Act

Implementing Act

In short: Primary responsibility for implementing EU law lies with EU countries. However, in areas where uniform conditions for implementation are needed the Commission adopts an implementing act.

The EU legislator may empower the Commission to adopt 'implementing acts' through specific rules written into a legislative act (the 'basic act'). This is done when it is necessary to put in place uniform conditions for the implementation of EU law, instead of letting each Member State implement it on its own in a potentially divergent manner.

Before the Commission can adopt an implementing act, it must usually consult a committee in which every EU country is represented. The committee enables EU countries to oversee the Commission's work as it adopts an implementing act - a procedure referred to in EU jargon as 'comitology'. The term 'comitology' refers to the set of procedures through which the European Commission exercises the implementing powers conferred on it by the European Union (EU) legislator, with the assistance of committees of representatives from EU Member States.

The Commission consults a committee composed of representatives of all Member States and chaired by the Commission on draft implementing acts. These committees use 2 types of procedures: examination and advisory. These procedures differ in their voting rules and in the way their votes influence the Commission's possibilities to adopt the implementing act in question. The choice of procedure for a given act is made by the EU legislator, and depends on the nature of the implementing powers that are laid out in the basic act (EHDS, in this case).

As part of the Commission's better regulation agenda, citizens and other stakeholders can provide feedback on the draft text of an implementing act for four weeks before the relevant committee votes to accept or reject it.

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