Types of decision-making procedure
1. The Commission shall adopt initiatives in one of the legal forms provided for in Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or any other initiative falling within its remit (‘acts’):
(a)
by oral procedure, at the meetings of the Commission, in accordance with section 1 of this Chapter;
(b)
by written procedure, in accordance with section 2 of this Chapter;
(c)
by empowerment procedure, in accordance with section 3 of this Chapter;
(d)
by delegation procedure, in accordance with section 4 of this Chapter,
2. Any draft act adopted by the Commission under one of the procedures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be entered beforehand in the information technology system established for that purpose, unless the Secretary-General expressly decides otherwise.
Section 1 — Meetings of the Commission and oral procedure
Meetings of the Commission
1. Meetings of the Commission shall be convened by the President.
2. The Commission shall meet, as a general rule, once a week (‘ordinary’ meetings). It shall also meet whenever the President deems it necessary (‘extraordinary’ meetings).
3. In exceptional circumstances, if some or all of the Members of the Commission are prevented from attending a meeting of the Commission in person, the President may invite them to participate by means of telecommunication systems allowing for their identification and effective participation.
4. Acts may be adopted by oral procedure at ordinary meetings or extraordinary meetings. The rules for organising and running the meetings, as well as the procedural rules, are set out in Articles 8 to 16.
5. At the initiative of the President, the Commission may also hold orientation debates, seminars, informal meetings or working meetings on specific topics.
Setting the agenda
1. The President shall set the agenda of each ordinary and extraordinary meeting of the Commission.
2. In order to facilitate the planning of the Commission’s work and to take account of the Commission’s communication strategy, the Secretary-General, under the authority of the President, shall establish the list of items that are planned for inclusion on the agenda of meetings of the Commission.
3. In addition to the recurring items which are automatically placed on the agenda of each meeting of the Commission, such as the approval of minutes, interinstitutional relations, coordination of external action or administrative and budgetary matters, the politically sensitive and/or important matters and draft acts, in particular those linked to the Commission’s priorities, shall generally be included on the agenda.
4. In order to guarantee the effective exercise of collegiality, any items included on the agenda of a meeting of the Commission shall be carried over to a later meeting if:
(a)
the relevant documents are not made available to the Members of the Commission within the time limits set out in Article 11(3), unless the President decides otherwise;
(b)
one (or more) of the language versions required by Article 41(1), point (b) is (are) missing, unless the President decides to ask the Commission for approval ‘in principle’, accompanied by an ad hoc empowerment for the purpose of adopting the draft act once the language version(s) is (are) available.
5. The Commission may, on a proposal from the President, discuss a matter that does not appear on the agenda.
Conditions for the inclusion of items on the agenda
1. Without prejudice to paragraph 4, the following information shall be available when any request is made to include on the agenda a draft act referred to in Article 8(3):
(a)
the title of the draft act and a brief description of its objective;
(b)
the reasons for presenting it and for its timing;
(c)
its link with the political guidelines laid down by the President and the priorities set by the Commission and with the Commission’s work programme and its communication strategy;
(d)
the state of preparation of the file, including as regards better regulation requirements and the interservice consultation;
(e)
the explicit agreement of the Member of the Commission responsible for the budget if the proposal has significant budgetary implications.
2. The conditions set out in paragraph 1 also apply to requests for inclusion on the agenda of draft acts of general application presented under miscellaneous administrative and budgetary matters.
3. Articles 29, 36 and 41 shall apply to requests for inclusion on the agenda of draft acts submitted under empowerment and delegation procedures.
4. Unless the President decides otherwise, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not apply to:
(a)
discussion papers requested by the President to structure orientation debates;
(b)
information notes from Members of the Commission who inform succinctly the Commission of matters under their responsibility, without asking it to adopt a position, and which commit only their authors and the inclusion of which on the agenda has been specifically authorised by the President.
5. Any request to include an item on the agenda of a meeting of the Commission shall be submitted by one (or more) Member(s) of the Commission to the President at least nine working days before the meeting of the Commission in question. In exceptional circumstances, the President may accept a late request for an item to be included in the agenda. The Secretary-General shall be informed of any request for inclusion in the agenda.
Preparation of agenda items
1. Items included on the agenda of an ordinary or an extraordinary meeting of the Commission shall be prepared at the weekly meeting of the Heads of Cabinet chaired by the Secretary-General.
2. Special meetings of cabinet members shall be organised, at the President’s initiative, for a preliminary discussion of specific matters or files. A member of the President’s cabinet shall chair these meetings. They shall usually be held in the week prior to that of the meeting of the Commission.
3. The Interinstitutional Relations Group ( 13 ) shall examine the positions to be adopted by the Commission in interinstitutional matters, in particular files pending before the European Parliament and/or the Council.
4. The Group for External Coordination ( 14 ) shall examine the positions to be adopted by the Commission in the field of external relations and shall ensure consistency between the external and internal aspects of the Commission's work.
5. In principle, any matter on which an agreement has been reached at one of the preparatory meetings referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 may not be reopened at a later stage.
6. If an agreement is reached on an agenda item at a weekly meeting of the Heads of Cabinet and that item is kept on the agenda, the act in question may be adopted without debate during the meeting of the Commission.
7. If an agreement is reached at the weekly meeting of the Heads of Cabinet or at the Commission meeting, the act in question may be adopted, on a proposal from the President, by finalisation written procedure, pursuant to Article 22.
8. In all the preparatory meetings referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4, cabinet members shall speak on behalf of the Member of the Commission whom they represent on the basis of a clear mandate.
Making the agenda and other documents available
1. The Secretary-General shall make a draft agenda available to the Members of the Commission no later than the working day before the weekly meeting of the Heads of Cabinet.
2. At the latest on the day before ordinary or extraordinary meetings of the Commission, the Secretary-General shall make the agenda, as set by the President, available to the Members of the Commission. The agenda shall be made public in accordance with Article 63.
3. The documents required for the discussion of each of the agenda items shall be made available to the Members of the Commission no later than the working day prior to the weekly meeting of the Heads of Cabinet.
Unless a derogation is granted by the President on the basis of a duly reasoned written request, the documents intended for discussion at a special meeting of cabinet members shall be made available to the Members of the Commission at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. In the case of very long documents, the Secretary-General, in agreement with the President, may allow more time.
The documents shall be made available subject to the adoption procedure being initiated by the Secretary-General after verifying in particular the agreement of the Member of the Commission responsible and, where applicable, of the Members of the Commission who are jointly responsible or associated.
Quorum and attendance of Members at meetings of the Commission
1. The number of Members whose presence is necessary for the Commission to take valid decisions at its ordinary and extraordinary meetings shall be equal to the majority of its Members.
2. In exceptional circumstances, if some or all Members of the Commission are prevented from attending a meeting of the Commission in person, the President may invite them to participate by means of telecommunication systems allowing for their identification and effective participation. They shall then be deemed to be present for the purposes of the quorum.
3. In accordance with the principle of collegiality, the Members of the Commission shall attend all ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the Commission in their entirety.
4. The President may release a Member of the Commission from the obligation to attend an ordinary or extraordinary meeting of the Commission, if justified by compelling circumstances, such as obligations with regard to other European Union institutions or related to the external representation of the European Union. In order to obtain such authorisation, the Member of the Commission concerned shall address a duly substantiated written request to the President in good time.
5. Absent Members cannot be replaced.
Decision-making
1. The Commission’s decisions shall be adopted on a proposal from one or more of its Members. They shall be adopted by a majority of its Members.
2. When a decision is to be voted on, at the initiative of the President or at the request of one or more of the Members of the Commission, the following rules shall apply:
(a)
a vote on a draft act may concern, at the President’s discretion: (i) the original draft act, or (ii) an amended draft act submitted either by the Member(s) of the Commission responsible or by the President;
(b)
before proceeding to a vote, the President shall establish that the necessary quorum exists, as laid down in Article 12(1);
(c)
each Member of the Commission shall have one vote, which may not be delegated;
(d)
the draft act shall be adopted if the number of votes in favour is equal to or more than a majority of its Members;
(e)
the outcome of the vote, declared by the President, and all the information relating to it, shall be recorded in the minutes of the Commission meeting, in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 16(3); the same shall apply to any statements (such as explanations of vote) which Members of the Commission ask to be recorded;
(f)
in certain exceptional circumstances the President may decide to hold a secret ballot.
Confidentiality of Commission meetings
1. Meetings of the Commission shall not be public.
2. Discussions in the meetings shall be protected by the principle of confidentiality.
Attendance at Commission meetings
1. The President shall decide which persons are allowed to attend the Commission’s discussions at its ordinary or extraordinary meetings.
2. Unless the President decides otherwise, the following persons may attend the Commission meetings: the Secretary-General, the President’s Head of Cabinet, the Director-General of the Legal Service, the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Communication, the Head of the Commission’s Spokesperson’s Service and the Director of the Secretariat-General’s Directorate responsible for Decision-making and Collegiality.
Any of those persons who is unable to attend may be replaced by a representative.
3. The President may decide to invite any other person on a particular agenda item.
4. The President may, on their own initiative or at the request of a Member of the Commission, restrict the presence of members of Commission staff and other persons for all or part of a meeting.
5. The Secretary-General shall assist the President in order to ensure compliance with the rules set out in paragraphs 1 to 4.
Minutes of Commission meetings
1. Minutes of all ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the Commission shall be drawn up by the Secretary-General.
2. The ordinary minutes (‘PVO’) shall give an account of the conduct of the meeting, the discussions and the adoption of acts, which is information that is to be made public.
3. The ordinary minutes may be accompanied by special minutes (‘PVS’), which shall record the discussions and acts not covered by paragraph 2, the votes taken and the statements which Members of the Commission ask to have recorded in the minutes. The special minutes shall be classified.
4. The draft minutes (PVO and PVS) shall be submitted to the Commission for approval at a subsequent meeting. The approved minutes shall be authenticated by the handwritten or electronic signatures of the President and the Secretary-General.
5. The ordinary minutes shall be made public once they have been approved by the Commission, in accordance with Article 63(2).
Section 2 — Written procedure
Decisions taken by written procedure
1. The Commission’s decisions shall be adopted by written procedure on a proposal from one or more of its Members.
2. A draft act originally placed on the agenda of a Commission meeting for adoption by oral procedure may be adopted by written procedure on a proposal from the President.
3. Any Member of the Commission may send the President a reasoned request for the draft act submitted for adoption by written procedure to be mentioned at a meeting of the Commission or placed on the agenda of a meeting of the Commission. The Secretary-General shall be informed of such requests.
4. All draft acts to be adopted by written procedure shall be made available to the Members of the Commission, indicating the expiry date for the written procedure.
5. In the course of a written procedure, in accordance with Articles 24 to 28 and Article 41, the original draft act, the time limit or any other aspect of the procedure may be amended. The written procedure may also be suspended or abandoned.
6. The act shall stand adopted on expiry of the time limit, provided that the draft act complies with all the required conditions of substance and form.
7. The Secretary-General shall ensure that the written procedure runs smoothly and establish that it has been completed.
Initiation of a written procedure
1. The Secretary-General shall be responsible for initiating written procedures. To that end the Secretary-General shall verify that the required conditions of substance and form have been met, including the agreement of the responsible Member(s) of the Commission, the possible co-responsible or associated Member(s) and, where necessary, the agreement of the President.
2. Without prejudice to Article 22, the positive opinion of the Legal Service, taking into account its comments, if any, made in connection with its mission as described in Article 53(2), as well as the positive opinion of the other services consulted, is required before a written procedure is initiated. The opinions of the Legal Service and of the other services consulted may be express or tacit.
Time limits for a written procedure
1. The Secretary-General shall set the expiry dates for written procedures.
2. The time limit for an ordinary written procedure shall be no less than five working days from the date on which the draft act was made available to the Members of the Commission.
3. However, the Secretary-General may set a shorter time limit, as provided for in Articles 20, 21 and 22.
4. The initial expiry date may be postponed by the Secretary-General during the procedure:
(a)
at the request of the Member of the Commission responsible, or
(b)
on the initiative of the Secretary-General, in particular if the draft act does not meet all the required conditions of substance or form.
5. The initial expiry date may also be brought forward by the Secretary-General during the procedure, at the request of the Member of the Commission responsible or on the initiative of the Secretary-General if required by special circumstances. If bringing the expiry date forward alters the type of written procedure, the prior agreement of the President shall be required.
6. The Secretary-General shall inform the Members of the Commission of any change to the expiry date.
Expedited written procedure
1. The Member of the Commission responsible for a draft act may request an expedited written procedure. The request shall be duly justified by unforeseen and/or exceptional circumstances. It shall not be used as a means of making up for an administrative delay.
2. The President may authorise the Secretary-General to set the minimum time limit to three working days from the date when the draft act was made available to the Members of the Commission.
Urgent written procedure
1. The Member of the Commission responsible for a draft act may request an urgent written procedure. The request shall be duly justified. It shall not be used as a means of making up for an administrative delay.
2. The President may authorise the Secretary-General to set the time limit to less than three working days from the date when the draft act was made available to the Members of the Commission in order to enable an urgent act to be adopted.
3. The urgent written procedure is used for the adoption of the Commission’s communication on a Council position adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure.
Finalisation written procedure
1. On a proposal from the President, any draft act which has been placed on the agenda of an ordinary or extraordinary meeting of the Commission for adoption by oral procedure may be adopted by finalisation written procedure if agreement has been reached on it at the weekly meeting of Heads of Cabinet and a positive opinion has been received on it from the Legal Service, or if agreement has been reached on it at the meeting of the Commission.
Where agreement is reached on the draft act at the Commission meeting, the finalisation written procedure may be initiated even in the absence of a positive opinion from the Legal Service and the other services consulted.
2. The time limit for the finalisation written procedure may be set at less than five working days. The expiry date shall be after the meeting of the Commission for which the draft act was originally placed on the agenda, and before the following Commission meeting.
3. The draft act shall be put on the list of politically sensitive and/or important written procedures, as mentioned in Article 28.
Written procedure in the field of coordination and surveillance of economic and budgetary policies of the Member States, particularly in the euro area
1. At the request of the Member of the Commission responsible for the draft act, the President may authorise the initiation of a written procedure in the field of coordination and surveillance of economic and budgetary policies of the Member States, particularly in the euro area.
2. Without prejudice to Article 25, any Member of the Commission wishing to suspend this procedure shall send the President a reasoned request following an impartial and objective assessment of the structure, reasoning or result of the proposed draft act.
3. If, following examination of the request, the President considers that the reasons given are not well-founded, the President may refuse to allow the suspension and may decide that the written procedure shall continue.
In that case, the Secretary-General shall ask the position of the other Members of the Commission to ensure, by analogy, the respect of the quorum referred to in Article 250 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
4. At the end of the time limit set, if needed extended by the time necessary for the President to examine the request for suspension and for the Secretary-General to collect the position of the other members, the act shall be adopted by the Commission.
5. The President may also include the draft act on the agenda of a subsequent Commission meeting with a view to its adoption.
Amendment of a written procedure
1. The Member of the Commission responsible for the draft act may, on their own initiative or at the request of another Member, amend the original draft act. The Member of the Commission may also ask the Secretary-General to amend the time limit in accordance with Article 19(4) and (5) or any other aspect of the ongoing procedure.
2. The Secretary-General shall inform the Members of the Commission of the amendments and, if applicable, make available an amended draft act accompanied, if necessary, by a new time limit.
Suspension of a written procedure
1. Without prejudice to Article 23, any Member of the Commission may send the Secretary-General a reasoned request for suspension of an ongoing written procedure. The Secretary-General shall suspend the procedure and inform the Members of the Commission thereof.
2. The Secretary-General may also suspend the procedure on their own initiative if the Secretary-General finds that the draft act does not meet all the required conditions of substance or form. The Secretary-General shall inform the Members of the Commission thereof.
Reopening of a written procedure following suspension
1. The Secretary-General shall reopen a written procedure when:
(a)
the Member(s) of the Commission who requested the suspension send(s) the Secretary-General a request for the suspension to be lifted;
(b)
the conditions of substance and form have been met.
2. The Secretary-General shall inform the Members of the Commission and, if applicable, make available to them an amended draft act. The Secretary-General shall set a new time limit if necessary.
Abandonment of a written procedure
1. A written procedure shall be abandoned:
(a)
at the request of the Member(s) of the Commission responsible;
(b)
on the initiative of the Secretary-General when justified by the conditions of substance or form;
(c)
when, at the request of a Member of the Commission, the President accepts that the draft act be placed on the agenda for a Commission meeting with a view to its adoption by oral procedure, in accordance with Article 17(3).
2. The Secretary-General shall inform the Members of the Commission that the written procedure has been abandoned on the basis of paragraph 1(a) or 1(b).
Information about written procedures
1. Politically sensitive and/or important draft acts in the process of being adopted by written procedure and draft acts to be adopted by finalisation written procedure shall be brought to the attention of the Commission at its closest meeting.
2. Taking into account the proposals by the President and the Members responsible, the Secretary-General shall make available a list of the draft acts for the weekly meeting of Heads of Cabinet.
3. The list may be updated until the Commission meeting at which the draft acts in question are brought to the attention of the Commission.
Section 3 — Empowerment procedure
Granting of a general empowerment
1. The Commission may grant a general empowerment to one or more of its Members to adopt management or administrative acts of a routine and recurring nature on its behalf and under its responsibility.
2. The empowered Member of the Commission shall be accountable to the Commission for ensuring compliance with the conditions and rules for exercising the general empowerment.
3. The President shall submit to the Commission the draft decision to grant a general empowerment. The agreement of the Member(s) of the Commission concerned shall be obtained in advance. The decision granting the general empowerment shall be adopted by oral procedure or, where appropriate, by finalisation written procedure.
4. The Commission retains the right to exercise itself the powers it has granted. It may also give instructions to the Member(s) of the Commission exercising the general empowerment.
5. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be without prejudice to the rules on delegation in respect of financial matters, adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the Financial Regulation) ( 15 ) , and to the powers conferred on the appointing authority and the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment ( 16 ) .
Rules for the granting of a general empowerment
1. A decision to grant a general empowerment shall specify:
(a)
the Member(s) of the Commission to whom the general empowerment is granted;
(b)
the precise subject-matter and scope of the general empowerment and the conditions for exercising it;
(c)
a clear justification as to why the measures to be taken by the empowered Member(s) of the Commission can be regarded as management or administrative acts;
(d)
the rules for exercising the general empowerment, in particular as regards interservice consultation.
2. The requesting service shall send to the Secretary-General the preliminary draft decision to grant a general empowerment. The Secretary-General shall then carry out the interservice consultation and take the appropriate steps for the decision to be adopted by the Commission.
Conditions and rules for exercising a general empowerment
1. Before exercising a general empowerment, the empowered Member of the Commission shall determine, on their own initiative or on the basis of an analysis by the service responsible, whether, on grounds of a political assessment or other circumstances, the act should be adopted by oral or written procedure. If there is any doubt, the empowered Member of the Commission shall consult the President.
2. The positive opinion of the Legal Service, taking into account its comments, if any, made in virtue of its duties as described in Article 53(2), as well as the positive opinion of the other services consulted, shall be required before the adoption of acts by general empowerment. The opinions of the Legal Service and that of the other services consulted may be express or tacit.
3. The service responsible shall request, before the general empowerment is exercised, the agreement of the empowered Member(s) of the Commission and, if applicable, of any associated Members of the Commission.
4. The Secretariat-General shall verify that the required conditions of substance and form have been complied with before the draft act is submitted to the empowered Member of the Commission for adoption.
5. The empowered Member of the Commission shall adopt the act and certify that the conditions and rules governing the acts being adopted have been complied with.
6. The act shall stand adopted once the signature – handwritten or electronic – of the empowered Member of the Commission, as affixed for the purposes of adoption, has been recorded in the information technology system provided for that purpose.
7. If empowered Members of the Commission are prevented from exercising the general empowerment which has been granted to them, it may be exercised by another Member of the Commission.
Subdelegation of a general empowerment
1. The Member of the Commission who has been granted a general empowerment may subdelegate all or part of their delegated powers to a Director-General or Head of Service, unless this is expressly prohibited in the general empowerment decision. The Member of the Commission may revoke the subdelegation at any time. The service responsible shall notify the Secretariat-General of the decision to subdelegate or revoke.
2. The Director-General or Head of Service shall act under the authority of the Member of the Commission to whom the empowerment has been granted. The empowered Member of the Commission shall remain accountable to the Commission for ensuring compliance with the conditions and rules for exercising the general empowerment.
3. The decision to subdelegate shall define the subject-matter and scope of the subdelegated powers, which shall in no case exceed those specified in the general empowerment decision.
4. Subdelegated powers cannot be delegated further, except in the cases referred to in Article 33.
5. The Director-General or Head of Service shall adopt the draft act and certify that the conditions and rules governing the acts being adopted have been complied with.
6. The act shall stand adopted once the signature – handwritten or electronic – of the Director-General or Head of Service, as affixed for the purposes of adoption, has been recorded in the information technology system provided for that purpose.
Subdelegation for decisions awarding grants and contracts
1. The Director-General or Head of Service to whom powers have been granted by subdelegation under Article 32 may in turn decide to subdelegate certain decisions selecting projects and certain individual decisions awarding grants and public procurement contracts to a Deputy Director-General, a Director or, in agreement with the Member of the Commission responsible, a Head of Unit.
2. The Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit shall act under the authority of the Director-General or Head of Service who has received the subdelegated powers. The empowered Member of the Commission shall remain accountable to the Commission for ensuring compliance with the conditions and rules for exercising the general empowerment.
3. Subdelegations shall apply for the adoption of certain decisions selecting projects and of individual decisions awarding grants and public procurement contracts where the basic act provides that the Commission shall adopt a decision either on its own or after consulting a committee ( 17 ) and the committee has delivered a favourable opinion. Such decisions shall not be subject to interservice consultation.
4. The Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit to whom powers have been granted by subdelegation shall adopt the draft act and certify that the conditions and rules governing the acts being adopted have been complied with.
5. The act shall stand adopted once the signature – handwritten or electronic – of the person who has received the subdelegated powers, as affixed for the purposes of adoption, has been recorded in the information technology system provided for that purpose.
Register of general empowerments
The Secretariat-General shall keep a register of general empowerments, which shall be accessible on the Commission’s intranet. When a general empowerment is subdelegated, it shall be recorded in the register.
Ad hoc empowerment
1. The Commission may grant an ad hoc empowerment, limited in time, to one or more of its Members to adopt, in agreement with the President, certain one-off and specific measures, of which the Commission has determined the substance.
2. Ad hoc empowerments may be granted to formalise the results of the Commission’s deliberations at its meetings, in particular by finalising and adopting an act which has previously been approved in principle at a meeting of the Commission once all the required language versions are available, as provided for in Article 8(4), point (b).
3. Any request by a Member of the Commission for an ad hoc empowerment shall be duly justified and placed on the agenda of a Commission meeting.
4. Ad hoc empowerments shall be exercised mutatis mutandis in accordance with the procedures described in Article 31(2) to (6) and always in agreement with the President and in close cooperation with the Secretariat-General.
5. Ad hoc empowerments may not be subdelegated.
Section 4 — Delegation procedure
Granting of a direct delegation of powers
1. The Commission may delegate powers directly to one (or more) Director(s)-General or Head(s) of Service to adopt management or administrative acts of a routine and recurring nature on its behalf and under its responsibility.
2. The Director-General or Head of Service to whom delegated powers have been granted shall be accountable to the Commission for ensuring compliance with the conditions and rules for exercising the direct delegation of powers.
3. The President shall submit to the Commission the draft decision to grant a direct delegation. The agreement of the Member(s) of the Commission concerned shall be obtained in advance. The decision granting the direct delegation shall be adopted by oral procedure or, where appropriate, by finalisation written procedure.
4. The Commission shall retain the right to exercise itself the powers it has granted. It may also give instructions to the Director-General or Head of Service exercising the direct delegation.
5. Except in the cases referred to in Article 39, powers that have been delegated directly to a Director-General or Head of Service may not be subdelegated further.
6. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be without prejudice to the rules on delegation in respect of financial matters, adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the Financial Regulation), and to the powers conferred on the appointing authority and the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment.
Rules for the granting of a direct delegation
1. A decision to grant a direct delegation shall specify:
(a)
the Director-General or Head of Service to whom the powers are directly delegated;
(b)
the precise subject-matter and scope of the direct delegation and the conditions for exercising it;
(c)
a clear justification as to why the measures to be taken by the Director-General or Head of Service to whom the powers are delegated can be regarded as management or administrative acts;
(d)
the rules for exercising the direct delegation, in particular as regards interservice consultation.
2. The requesting service shall send the preliminary draft decision granting the direct delegation to the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General shall then carry out the interservice consultation and take the appropriate steps for the decision to be adopted by the Commission.
Conditions and rules for exercising a direct delegation
1. Before exercising a direct delegation, the Director-General or Head of Service to whom the powers are delegated shall determine whether, on grounds of a political assessment or other circumstances, the act should be adopted by oral or written procedure. If there is any doubt, the Director-General or Head of Service shall consult the Member of the Commission to whom the field of activity has been assigned.
2. The positive opinion of the Legal Service, taking into account its comments, if any, made in virtue of its duties as described in Article 53(2), as well as the positive opinion of the other services consulted, shall be required before the adoption of acts by direct delegation. The opinions of the Legal Service and those of the other services consulted may be express or tacit.
3. The Director-General or Head of Service to whom the powers are delegated shall adopt the draft act and certify that the conditions and rules governing the acts being adopted have been complied with.
4. The act shall stand adopted once the signature – handwritten or electronic – of the Director-General or Head of Service, as affixed for the purposes of adoption, has been recorded in the information technology system provided for that purpose.
5. If the Director-General or Head of Service to whom a direct delegation has been granted is prevented from exercising it, it may be exercised by the official designated in accordance with Article 52.
Subdelegation for decisions awarding grants and contracts
1. The Director-General or Head of Service to whom delegated powers have been granted under Article 36 may in turn decide to subdelegate certain decisions selecting projects and certain individual decisions awarding grants and public procurement contracts to a Deputy Director-General, a Director or, in agreement with the Member of the Commission responsible, a Head of Unit.
2. The subdelegated Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit shall act under the authority of the Director-General or Head of Service to whom delegated powers have been granted. The Director-General or Head of Service shall remain accountable to the Commission for ensuring compliance with the conditions and rules for exercising the direct delegation.
3. Subdelegations shall apply for the adoption of certain decisions selecting projects and of individual decisions awarding grants and public procurement contracts where the basic act provides that the Commission is to adopt a decision either on its own or after consulting a committee ( 18 ) and the committee has delivered a favourable opinion. Such decisions shall not be subject to interservice consultation.
4. The Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit to whom powers have been granted by subdelegation shall adopt the draft act and certify that the conditions and rules governing the acts being adopted have been complied with.
5. The act shall stand adopted once the signature – handwritten or electronic – of the Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit, as affixed for the purposes of adoption, has been recorded in the information technology system provided for that purpose.
Register of direct delegations
The Secretariat-General shall keep a register of direct delegations, which shall be accessible on the Commission’s intranet.
Section 5 — Provisions common to all decision-making procedures
Language rules for the decision-making procedures
1. All draft acts to be adopted by oral procedure, by written procedure, by the exercise of a general or ad hoc empowerment, or by the exercise of a direct delegation shall be available, as appropriate, in:
(a)
the language(s) stipulated by the President, taking account of the minimum requirements of the Members of the Commission;
(b)
the language(s) required for publication of the act in the Official Journal of the European Union or for its notification to the addressee(s) so that it can enter into force or take effect.
2. All draft acts to be discussed at a Commission meeting shall be made available to the Members of the Commission in the languages required under paragraph 1.
3. All draft acts to be adopted by written procedure shall be made available to the Members of the Commission, when the procedure is initiated, in the language(s) required under paragraph 1(a), and, before expiry of the procedure, in the language(s) required under paragraph 1(b). If the condition set out in paragraph 1(b) is not met, the Secretary-General shall extend the time limit or suspend the written procedure.
4. Where the Legal Service carries out a legal-linguistic revision of a draft act, all the necessary language versions shall be available in good time.
5. In the case of draft acts to be adopted by oral or by written procedure, the President shall assess any specific and/or exceptional situation in which some of the language versions required under paragraph 1(a) cannot be made available for duly substantiated reasons. In the case of draft acts to be adopted by the oral procedure in particular, depending on the circumstances, the President may decide to carry over the item concerned to the agenda of a later meeting.
6. In the case of draft acts to be adopted by the exercise of a general or ad hoc empowerment or by the exercise of a direct delegation, the act can be adopted only once the language version(s) referred to in paragraph 1(b) is(are) available.
7. Where an act adopted is to be officially transmitted to the other Union institutions and/or published in the Official Journal of the European Union , the text shall be available in all the official languages.
Information concerning adopted acts
The Commission shall take note of the acts adopted by written procedure, empowerment procedure and delegation procedure, which shall be recorded in day notes. The day notes shall be referred to in the minutes of the next Commission meeting.
A summary note shall be drawn up at each Commission meeting. It shall list acts adopted autonomously by the Commission by oral procedure. It shall also refer to the day notes of acts adopted by written procedure.
Authentication of adopted acts
1. Non-legislative acts adopted autonomously by the Commission shall be authenticated on or after their adoption and, if necessary, before their notification to their addressee(s) or their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
2. The acts referred to in paragraph 1 shall be authenticated as follows:
(a)
for those that are adopted by the oral procedure:
(i)
by the handwritten or electronic signature of the Secretary-General on the summary note drawn up during the Commission meeting at which they were adopted and which lists those acts;
(ii)
when the President makes use of telecommunication systems under the conditions laid down in Article 12(2), and when circumstances prevent the signing of the summary note, the express written agreement of the Secretary-General may exceptionally replace its signature and shall then be attached to that note;
(b)
for those that are adopted by the written procedure, by the handwritten or electronic signature of the Secretary-General on the day note referred to in Article 42 in which they are recorded;
(c)
for those that are adopted by empowerment procedure, by the handwritten or electronic signature of the empowered Member of the Commission on the adoption sheet and the record thereof; these acts shall be recorded in the corresponding day note referred to in Article 42;
(d)
for those that are adopted by delegation procedure (including by subdelegation), by the handwritten or electronic signature of the Director-General, Deputy Director- General, Director or Head of Unit to whom powers have been delegated or subdelegated on the adoption sheet and the record thereof; these acts shall be recorded in the corresponding day note referred to in Article 42.
3. The acts referred to in paragraph 2 shall be attached, including in electronic format where applicable, in the authentic language(s), to the summary notes or day notes referred to in that paragraph in such a way that they cannot be separated from them.
Signature of adopted acts
1. Non-legislative acts adopted by the Commission by the oral procedure and by the written procedure in the form of regulations, directives or decisions, when the latter do not specify to whom they are addressed, shall be deemed to have been signed by the President of the Commission within the meaning of Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union when the President affixes their signature to the summary note referred to in Article 42.
2. Where the President makes use of Article 7(3) and where the circumstances prevent the summary note from being signed, their express written consent may exceptionally replace their signature and shall be attached to that note.
3. Non-legislative acts adopted by the Commission by the oral procedure or by the written procedure in the form of decisions, when the latter specify to whom they are addressed, shall be deemed to have been signed by the Member of the Commission to whom the field of activity has been assigned when the Secretary-General affixes the signature referred to respectively in Article 43(2), points (a) and (b).
4. Acts referred to in paragraph 1 and adopted by the written procedure, which require publication in order to enter into force so urgently that it is not possible to wait for the signature of the summary note at the next Commission meeting, shall be deemed to have been signed by the President within the meaning of Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union when the Secretary-General affixes the signature referred to in Article 43(2), point (b).
5. The signature of the acts adopted by the empowerment procedure, by the delegation procedure or by subdelegation in one of the forms laid down in Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, shall be delegated, as the case may be, to the Member of the Commission thus empowered or to the Director-General, Deputy Director-General, Director or Head of Unit to whom powers have been delegated or subdelegated. This signature shall be affixed in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 43(2), points (c) and (d).
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
