Summary

This report provides a simple overview of the EU’s “comitology” process, by which the EU passes a large quantity of rules through non-legislative, committee-based procedures. Comitology procedures are used in a variety of policy areas that affect US exporters, including trade, environment, technical regulation, and single market legislation, public health, and consumer protection.

This report is intended for use by US companies that seek to better understand the decision making processes that affect them directly in the context of a specific piece of EU legislation or regulation. It s hoped that it will be used from time to time as a cross-reference by companies reading other Commercial Service reports that may refer to comitology committees and procedures. It may also be of use to those more generally interested in the EU regulatory process.

The report contains the following:
• A discussion of some of the basic concepts of comitology;
• A description of the politics of comitology, including history and main areas of debate.
• A brief run-through of the way comitology committees work;
• An examination of the various types of committee procedure;
• A thematically organized ”jargon buster” (glossary) to provide simple definitions for those unfamiliar;
• A list of links to the main web resources.