Delegated vs implementing acts, and how comitology works

The five types of act: Article 288 TFEU

Article 288 TFEU lists five acts. Delegated and implementing acts are not extra types: each is itself a regulation, directive or decision, set apart by the power it is adopted under.

Legislative and non-legislative acts: Article 289 TFEU

Under Article 289(3) TFEU, legal acts adopted by a legislative procedure are legislative acts. The ordinary legislative procedure is the joint adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of a regulation, directive or decision on a proposal from the Commission (Article 289(1), defined in Article 294). A special legislative procedure is adoption by Parliament with the participation of the Council, or by the Council with the participation of Parliament (Article 289(2)).

Article 290 calls delegated acts 'non-legislative acts of general application'. Implementing acts are adopted by the Commission, or in some cases the Council, under powers a binding Union act confers. Neither goes through a legislative procedure, so the Treaty gives the legislator, or the member states, a way to control them.

Delegated acts: Article 290 TFEU

• The objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation must be explicitly defined in the legislative act (Article 290(1)).
• The essential elements of an area are reserved for the legislative act and cannot be delegated (Article 290(1)).
• The legislative act sets the conditions. These may be that Parliament or the Council can revoke the delegation, and that the delegated act enters into force only if neither objects within a set period (Article 290(2)).
• For revocation and objection, Parliament acts by a majority of its component members and the Council by a qualified majority (Article 290(2)).
• The word 'delegated' goes in the title of every delegated act (Article 290(3)).

The Common Understanding on delegated acts

The practical rules sit in the Common Understanding on delegated acts, annexed to the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making of 13 April 2016. It replaces the 2011 Common Understanding. Its deadlines are the densest run of numbers on this topic.

The Commission consults experts designated by each member state on every draft (point 4); Parliament and the Council receive the documents at the same time (paragraph 28). Under the urgency procedure, kept for exceptional cases, the act enters into force without delay and is repealed if Parliament or the Council objects (points 20 to 22).

Implementing acts: Article 291 TFEU

The starting point is that member states implement EU law themselves: they 'shall adopt all measures of national law necessary to implement legally binding Union acts' (Article 291(1)). Implementing powers go to the EU level only where uniform conditions are needed.

Article 291(3) tells Parliament and the Council to lay down in advance, by regulations under the ordinary legislative procedure, the rules for control by member states of the Commission's implementing powers. That regulation is Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of 16 February 2011, in force since 1 March 2011. The word 'implementing' goes in the title of every implementing act (Article 291(4)).

Comitology under Regulation (EU) No 182/2011

Comitology is the name for this member-state control. The Commission is assisted by a committee of member-state representatives, chaired by a Commission representative who does not vote (Article 3(2)). Except in duly justified cases, the chair convenes a meeting not less than 14 days after sending the draft act and agenda (Article 3(3)). The regulation repealed the earlier comitology Decision 1999/468/EC (Article 12).

The advisory procedure (Article 4)

If the committee votes, its opinion is delivered by a simple majority of its component members. The Commission then decides, 'taking the utmost account' of the discussion and the opinion. It is not bound. Under Article 2(3), the advisory procedure applies as a general rule to acts outside the examination procedure's list.

The examination procedure (Article 5)

It applies in particular to implementing acts of general scope and to acts on programmes with substantial implications, the common agricultural and fisheries policies, the environment, security and safety or the protection of health or safety of humans, animals or plants, the common commercial policy and taxation (Article 2(2)). The committee votes by the qualified majority of Article 16(4) and (5) TEU and, where applicable, Article 238(3) TFEU.

• Positive opinion: the Commission shall adopt the act.
• Negative opinion: the Commission shall not adopt it. If the act is needed, the chair may submit an amended version to the same committee within 2 months, or refer the draft to the appeal committee within 1 month.
• No opinion: the Commission may adopt the act, except where it concerns taxation, financial services, the protection of the health or safety of humans, animals or plants, or definitive multilateral safeguard measures; where the basic act rules this out; or where a simple majority of the committee's component members opposes it.

The appeal committee (Articles 3(7) and 6)

Chaired by a Commission representative, it meets at the earliest 14 days and at the latest 6 weeks after referral, and gives its opinion within 2 months. It votes by the same majority as the examination committee. A positive opinion means the Commission shall adopt; no opinion means it may adopt; a negative opinion means it shall not adopt.

On imperative grounds of urgency, a basic act may allow immediately applicable implementing acts. They remain in force for no more than 6 months unless the basic act provides otherwise, and go to the committee within 14 days of adoption (Article 8). The Publications Office lists no amending act and no later consolidated version of Regulation 182/2011 (checked 26 October 2026), so the text above applies at every 2026 cut-off.

What Parliament and the Council can do about each

Over delegated acts, the control is strong. Parliament or the Council can block a delegated act by objecting, or take the power back by revoking it (Article 290(2) TFEU). Parliament needs a majority of its component members and the Council a qualified majority.

Over implementing acts, the control is a warning. The member states control the Commission through the committees. Parliament and the Council have only a right of scrutiny, and only where the basic act was adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure. The Commission must review the draft and say what it intends, but it is not obliged to withdraw it.

Which kind of power to use is the legislator's choice:

Delegated and implementing acts side by side

How it is tested

The Commission's guidance to candidates names the EU's institutional set-up and the Commission's governance and procedures among the test's three content areas (the guidance states this in its AD7 version). Questions draw only on public official sources published before the application period opened: 31 March 2026 for AD7 (the guidance states), and, we estimate, 29 May 2026 for AD5, mid to late June for AST3 and about 5 to 6 October 2026 for AD6 and AST2. Everything on this page is older than all of them; see how the content cut-off works.

In our analysis, the distractors here are true facts in the wrong slot: the Council's majority given to Parliament, or the 2-month objection period swapped for the appeal committee's 2 months. Learn each figure with its owner.

Worked example 1 (our own)

Under Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, an examination committee delivers a negative opinion on a draft implementing act that the Commission still considers necessary. What may the chair do? A. Adopt the act anyway, since the opinion is only advisory. B. Submit an amended version to the same committee within 2 months, or refer the draft to the appeal committee within 1 month. C. Refer the draft to the European Parliament for a vote by a majority of its component members. D. Put the same draft to a second vote after 14 days.

Answer: B. Article 5(3) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. A describes the advisory procedure; C mixes in Article 290's majority; D is not in the regulation (14 days is the minimum notice for a meeting).

Worked example 2 (our own)

Under Article 290(2) TFEU, how does the Council decide to revoke a delegation of power? A. Unanimously. B. By a qualified majority. C. By a simple majority. D. By a majority of its component members.

Answer: B. Article 290(2) TFEU, last subparagraph. D is Parliament's majority for the same decision.

To practise questions like these, take the free 30-question test under Commission or open-competition rules, with AD or AST timing, in English, French or German. The full mocks follow the same format. For the competition itself, see COM/AD/111/2026 (AD6); for the wider picture, see the Commission's powers under Article 17 TEU and the better regulation numbers.