Council Press Release, 6 and 7 December 2012
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting held in Brussels on the 6 and 7 December 2012.
The Council agreed a general approach on aligning the existing Commission implementing powers for five product specific vertical directives (so-called breakfast directives) (16260/12 + COR 1 + COR 2) with the article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), and more specifically on delegated acts.
A general approach represents an agreement of the Council on a draft text pending the first-reading position of the European Parliament.
The five breakfast directives concern:
Article 290 TFEU provides the possibility for the EU co-legislators (i.e. the Council and the European Parliament) to delegate to the Commission the power to amend or supplement certain non-essential elements of legislative acts. The so-called delegated acts cover almost the same type of measures as those adopted so far under the "regulatory procedure with scrutiny" (as introduced by the Council into the "comitology" decision in 2006).
Subject to the conditions of the delegation, the Council and the European Parliament may decide to revoke this delegation or object to a Commission delegated act. The specific objectives, content, scope and duration of a delegation must be defined in each basic act.