Co-Decision Procedure under the Amsterdam Treaty

Introduction
The Amsterdam Treaty, in force as from May 1, 1999, amends the way in which certain EU legislation is adopted. The Treaty introduces an amended ‘co-decision procedure’, which places the European Parliament (‘EP’) on a near-equal footing with the Council of Ministers (‘Council’) in the legislative process. This amended co-decision procedure:

• includes an innovative ‘shortcut’;
• replaces the ‘co-operation procedure’ except as regards certain legislative proposals concerning Economic and Monetary Union;
• in certain cases, replaces the ‘consultation’ and ‘assent’ procedure; and
• will be the procedure for adopting legislation in a number of new areas, such as certain measures concerning fraud protection, health and research.

The principal features of the co-decision procedure are summarised below and are illustrated on our easy-to-follow chart.

Principal features

• A Proposed Act may be adopted by the Council after a single reading in the EP if the Council approves the EP’s Opinion.
• A Proposed Act is not adopted if, during second reading, the EP rejects the Council’s Common Position by an absolute majority of its members. This means that the Council no longer has the option of convening the Conciliation Committee for the purpose of ‘restating’ its position, as was previously the case.
• If the Council does not adopt a Proposed Act following the EP’s second reading, the Conciliation Committee must be convened within six weeks.
• Beginnings at a Proposed Act’s second reading in the EP, time limits of three months and six weeks are imposed within which each step of the decision-making process must be completed.
• If the Conciliation Committee is unable to agree a Joint Text, the Proposed Act is not adopted. This means that the Council no longer has the option—as was previously the case—to proceed with a ‘third reading’ of the Proposed Act based upon its pre-conciliation Commission Position, which could, in principle, lead to adoption of the Proposed Act.
• The periods of three months and six weeks are extended by a maximum of one month and two weeks respectively at the initiative of the EP or the Council. The ‘full works’ can therefore take +/-14 months. In the past, the average period for adoption of legislation has been 21 months.  A Joint Declaration annexed to the Amsterdam Treaty calls upon the institutions to ensure that the procedure “…operates as expeditiously as possible”, that recourse to extensions “… should be considered only when strictly necessary” and that “In no case should the actual period between the second reading by the European Parliament and the outcome of the Conciliation Committee exceed nine months.”

Conclusion
These procedural changes have the important effect of reinforcing the EP’s role in the EU legislative process. The co-decision procedure, as amended by the Amsterdam Treaty, is also intended to expedite the adoption of EU legislation by, first, enabling Proposed Acts to be adopted following a single reading in the EP and, second, imposing strict time limits for the other stages of the process.

Brussels, April 2005

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The amended text provides as follows:

1. Where reference is made in this Treaty to this Article for the adoption of an act, the following procedure shall apply.
2. The Commission shall submit a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council.
   The Council, acting by a qualified majority after obtaining the opinion of the European Parliament,
   • if it approves all the amendments contained in the European Parliament's opinion, may adopt the proposed act thus amended;
   • if the European Parliament does not propose any amendments, may adopt the proposed act;
   • shall otherwise adopt a common position and communicate it to the European Parliament. The Council shall inform the European Parliament fully of the reasons which led it to adopt its common position. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament fully of its position.
   
   If, within three months of such communication, the European Parliament:
   
   • (a)approves the common position or has not taken a decision, the act in question shall be deemed to have been adopted in accordance with that common position;
   • (b)rejects, by an absolute majority of its component members, the common position, the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted;
   • (c)proposes amendments to the common position by an absolute majority of its component members, the amended text shall be forwarded to the Council and to the Commission, which shall deliver an opinion on those amendments.
3. If, within three months of the matter being referred to it, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, approves all the amendments of the European Parliament, the act in question shall be deemed to have been adopted in the form of the common position thus amended; however, the Council shall act unanimously on the amendments on which the Commission has delivered a negative opinion. If the Council does not approve all the amendments, the President of the Council, in agreement with the President of the European Parliament, shall within six weeks convene a meeting of the Conciliation Committee.
4. The Conciliation Committee, which shall be composed of the members of the Council or their representatives and an equal number of representatives of the European Parliament, shall have the task of reaching agreement on a joint text, by a qualified majority of the members of the Council or their representatives and by a majority of the representatives of the European Parliament. The Commission shall take part in the Conciliation Committee's proceedings and shall take all the necessary initiatives with a view to reconciling the positions of the European Parliament and the Council. In fulfilling this task, the Conciliation Committee shall address the common position on the basis of the amendments proposed by the European Parliament.
5. If, within six weeks of its being convened, the Conciliation Committee approves a joint text, the European Parliament, acting by an absolute majority of the votes cast, and the Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall each have a period of six weeks from that approval in which to adopt the act in question in accordance with the joint text. If either of the two institutions fails to approve the proposed act within that period, it shall be deemed not to have been adopted.
6. Where the Conciliation Committee does not approve a joint text, the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted.
7. The periods of three months and six weeks referred to in this Article shall be extended by a maximum of one month and two weeks respectively at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.”