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.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
