Decision making process and legal documents By Ruth Tammeorg European Documentation Centre Tartu University Library Estonia

Community acquis – Acquis communautaire The Community acquis is the body of common rights and obligations which bind all the Member States together within the European Union. It is constantly evolving and comprises: the content, principles and political objectives of the Treaties the legislation adopted in application of the treaties and the case law of the Court of Justice the declarations and resolutions adopted by the Union measures relating to the common foreign and security policy measures relating to justice and home affairs international agreements concluded by the Community and those concluded by the Member States between themselves in the field of the Union's activities

Treaties The treaties constitute the European Union’s ‘primary legislation’, which is comparable to constitutional law at national level. They thus lay down the fundamental features of the Union, in particular the responsibilities of the various actors in the decision-making process, the legislative procedures, under the Community system and the powers conferred on them. The treaties themselves are the subject of direct negotiations between the governments of the Member States, after which they have to be ratified in accordance with the procedures applying at national level (in principle by the national parliaments or by referendum). Founding treaties Accession treaties Other treaties and protocols

Treaties Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Official Journal C 115 of 9 May Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon, 13 December 2007 Official Journal C 306 of 17 December Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union Official Journal C 303 of 14 December EUROPEAN UNION — CONSOLIDATED VERSIONS OF THE TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION AND OF THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY Official Journal C 321E of 29 December

Founding treaties Treaty on European Union (1992) Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957) Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (1957) Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (1951)

Accession treaties Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union (2005) Accession of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia (2003) Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden (1994) Accession of Spain and Portugal (1985) Accession of Greece (1979) Accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom (1972)

Other treaties and protocols Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (2004) Treaty of Nice (2001) Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) Single European Act (1986) Greenland Treaty (1984) Merger Treaty (1965)

Intergovernmental Conference - Conference of the governments of the Member States convened in order to negotiate amendments to existing treaties The Treaty on European Union contains a provision allowing for the revision of the treaties. Article 48 states that any Member State or the Commission may submit proposals to the Council for amending the treaties. This opens the way, if the Council agrees, for the convening by the President of the Council of an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). Amending the treaties requires the unanimous agreement of all Member States. It also requires ratification by all Member States in accordance with their own respective internal procedures before a new treaty can enter into force. There have been a number of Intergovernmental Conferences over recent years. These have resulted in successive amending treaties, notably the Single European Act (1986), the Treaty on European Union (1992), the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2001). The Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community has been signed in Lisbon on 13 December 2007 by the representatives of the 27 Member States. In accordance with its Article 6, the Treaty will have to be ratified by the Member States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements and will enter into force on 1 January 2009, provided that all instruments of ratification have been deposited, or, failing that, on the first day of the month following the deposit of the last instrument of ratification.

The ‘secondary legislation’ The ‘secondary legislation’ is the third major source of Community law after the treaties (primary legislation) and international agreements. totality of the legislative instruments adopted by the European institutions pursuant to the provisions of the treaties. binding legal instruments (regulations, directives and decisions) non-binding instruments (resolutions, opinions) Other instruments such as the institutions’ internal regulations and Community action programmes.

Preparatory acts Legislative proposals and opinions from the Commission. Member States’ initiative Council common position European Parliament’s legislative resolution Opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

Case-law Judgments of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance Opinions of the Court of Justice Orders of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance Submissions of the advocates-general

Decision-making process of European Union. Legislative procedures In contrast to the national systems, in which the will of the nation is expressed in Parliament, the European Union accords a major legislative role to the representatives of the Member States meeting in the Council. As the institutions have developed, the European Parliament has seen its powers increase: the Council now shares its legislative powers with Parliament for the adoption of general legal instruments of a binding nature (regulations and directives). The decision-making procedures comprise the assent procedure, the co-decision procedure, the cooperation procedure and the consultation procedure.

Assent procedure (Code AVC) The assent procedure, which was introduced by the Single European Act, gives Parliament the possibility of expressing its approval or disapproval of certain Council instruments. There are certain matters on which the Council cannot legislate unless Parliament gives its consent by an absolute majority of its members. The assent procedure, which represents as it were a right of veto for Parliament, was originally intended to apply only to the conclusion of association agreements and the examination of applications to join the European Community. The areas in which the assent procedure applies at present are as follows: –enhanced cooperation (Article 11(2)), –specific tasks of the ECB (Article 105(6)), –amending the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (Article 107(5)), –Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund (Article 161), –uniform procedure for elections (Article 190(4)), –certain international agreements (Article 300(3)), –violation of human rights (Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union), –accession of new Member States (Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union)

Co-decision procedure (Code COD) The co-decision procedure, which was introduced by the Treaty on European Union, was conceived as an extension of the cooperation procedure. However, while in the latter the Council can, acting unanimously, disregard the opinion of Parliament, in the co-decision procedure there is no such possibility: in the event of disagreement, a conciliation committee made up of representatives of the Council and of Parliament has to arrive at a text that is acceptable to the two institutions. The co-decision procedure now puts these two institutions on an equal footing in the legislative roles. Under this procedure, the Council cannot adopt a common position if the process of conciliation with Parliament fails. If no agreement is reached, the legislative process is liable to be broken off. Co-decision has become by far the most important procedure in legislative practice. It concerns many areas, for example: –non-discrimination on grounds of nationality (Article 12), –combating discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (Article 13(2)), –freedom of movement and of residence (Article 18(2)), –free movement of workers (Article 40), –social security for migrant workers (Article 42), –right of establishment (Article 44(1), Article 46(2), Article 47(1) and (2)), –visas, asylum, immigration and other policies relating to the free movement of persons (Article 67(4) and (5))

Cooperation procedure (Code SYN) The cooperation procedure was introduced by the Single European Act to step up the role of the European Parliament compared with the consultation procedure. Parliament can make amendments to a Council common position but, unlike the co-decision procedure, the final decision lies with the Council alone. The cooperation procedure applies exclusively to the following areas: –rules for the multilateral surveillance procedure (Article 99(5)), –prohibition on privileged access to financial institutions (Article 102(2)), –prohibition on assuming liability for Member States’ commitments (Article 103(2)), –measures to harmonise the circulation of coins (Article 106(2)). Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, all other areas previously subject to this procedure have come under the co-decision procedure

The consultation procedure (Code CNS) Since the introduction of the cooperation procedure and the co-decision procedure, the importance of the consultation procedure has steadily declined. The characteristic feature of the consultation procedure is a division of tasks between the Commission and the Council that can be summed up in the phrase ‘the Commission proposes, the Council disposes’. However, before the Council can take a decision, certain stages have to be completed, in the course of which, besides the Commission and the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions may also have their say, depending on the subject of the regulations in question. The consultation procedure now applies only to cases that are not expressly subject to the cooperation or co-decision procedures.

Documents of the European Commission COM documents: Legislative proposals, White Papers, Green Papers SEC documents C documents Register of Commission documents ?CL=en

Documents of the European Parliament Agendas Draft reports and opinionsDraft reports Reports adopted in committeeReports Part-session minutes Attendance register and results of roll-call votes Texts adopted by ParliamentTexts adopted Resolutions Written declarations Debates in plenary Bulletins Parliamentary questions Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament with IndexRules of Procedure Documents from previous parliamentary terms

Documents of the Council of the European Union howPage.asp?id=1279&lang=ENhttp:// howPage.asp?id=1279&lang=EN

Documents of the European Council. Presidency Conclusions owPage.asp?id=432&lang=ET&mode=g x.htm

Documents of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) vis_en.asp?type=en EESC Register of documents /index_en.asp

Documents of the Committee of the Regions

Documents of the Court of Justice and of the Court of First Instance Judgments Orders Opinions Summaries

Document registers of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission _en.htmhttp://europa.eu/documents/registers/index _en.htm

General publications of the European Union Official Information The authoritative source of EU law – The Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) Published every working day in all official languages of the European Union (EU). L series for legislation C series for information and notices S series Supplement for public procurement Electronic section to the C series the OJ C E. Annex. Debates of the European Parliament The Special Edition of the Official Journal in the languages of the new Member States 2004,

General publications of the European Union. Official Information Bulletin of the European Union

General publications of the European Union Official Information General Report on the Activities of the European Union

WHERE TO FIND EU DOCUMENTS – Europa on the Web ( Documents. European law EUR-LEX, the portal to European Union lawEUR-LEX, the portal to European Union law ŒIL, the Legislative Observatory Pre-Lex, monitoring of the decision- making process between institutionsPre-Lex, monitoring of the decision- making process between institutions Case law Summaries of legislation

EUR-LEX, the portal to European Union law OFFICIAL JOURNAL SEARCH General search Search terms Date or time span Author Classification headings Keywords (EUROVOC) Search by file category Treaties Legislation Preparatory acts Case-law Parliamentary questions Search by document number Natural number CELEX number Consolidated text Search by publication reference Official Journal European Court Reports

ŒIL, the Legislative Observatory The Observatory analyses and monitors the interinstitutional decision-making process in the European Union, the role of the European Parliament in shaping European legislation and the activities of the various institutions involved in the legislative procedure. Search by: Words Reference Agent in procedure Subjects Countries Progress of the procedure

Pre-Lex - Pre-Lex - the database on inter- institutional procedures Follows the major stages of the decision-making process between the Commission and the other institutions: stage of the procedure decisions of the institutions persons' names services responsible references of documents …etc and monitors the works of the various institutions involved (European Parliament, Council, ESC, Committee of the Regions, European central Bank, Court of Justice, etc.). PreLex follows all Commission proposals (legislative and budgetary dossiers, conclusions of international agreements) and communications from their transmission to the Council or the European Parliament Links allow users to access directly the electronic texts available (COM documents, Official Journal, Bulletin of the European Union, documents of the European Parliament, press releases, etc.).

CASE-LAW database Curia (since 17/06/1997) Earlier case-law is available on EUR-Lex Contains: full texts: the full text of judgments, Opinions of the Court, Advocates General’s Opinions and orders of the Community Courts, delivered since 17 June 1997 and published in the ‘Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance’ or in the ‘European Court Reports - Reports of European Community Staff Cases’. ‘summary’ documents: summaries of decisions published in the ‘Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance’ or in the ‘European Court Reports - Reports of European Community Staff Cases’ are available in all official languages. ‘information’ documents: information on decisions of which the full text is not published in the ‘Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance’ ‘OJ’ documents :notices for publication in the ‘Official Journal of the European Union’ relating to cases brought, adjudged or removed from the register, published since 1 January

Summaries of Legislation This site provides user-friendly fact sheets which summarise EU legislation. The fact sheets are divided into 32 subject areas which are the Activities of the European Union. You will find not only summaries of existing measures, but also a follow-up of legislative proposals in policies as diverse as External Relations and Employment and Social Affairs.