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.
