With the aim of guaranteeing the right to good administration and ensuring an open, efficient and independent EU civil service, on 15 January 2013 the European Parliament adopted a resolution based on a legislative initiative report prepared by the Legal Affairs Committee (rapporteur: Luigi Berlinguer, S&D, Italy), presenting detailed recommendations to the Commission on a Law of Administrative Procedure of the EU. This called for a regulation establishing an EU administrative law applicable to all the Union's institutions, bodies and agencies in their relations with the public. More specifically, the proposed regulation should codify the fundamental principles of good administration and regulate the procedure to be followed by the Union's administration when handling individual cases to which a natural or legal person is a party. It should also lay down a procedure applicable as a de minimis rule where there is no specific law. Thus, this regulation would be considered as a code of practice under the new legal basis of Article 298 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

The Barroso Commission refrained from submitting any proposal, since it considered that there was no need for a legislative initiative in the field of the rights of citizens in their direct dealings with the institutions and bodies of the EU.

However, as a first response to the Parliament's request, Commission Vice-President Timmermans, during his hearing before the Parliament in October 2014, did commit to examining the possibility of a European Law on Administrative Procedure.

Nevertheless, the 2015 and 2016 Commission work programmes did not include any proposal on the matter. In his answer to a parliamentary question (E-001249-16) in May 2016, Commissioner Timmermans stated that the Commission remained open to be convinced about the potential added value of establishing an EU administrative law.

In order to highlight the necessity of comprehensive and cross-cutting administrative procedure, the European Parliament adopted a related resolution for an open, efficient and independent European Union administration (rapporteur: Haidi Hautala, Greens/EFA, Finland) in June 2016 (2016/2610(RSP)). Here, the Parliament asked the Commission to examine a suggested proposal for a regulation, attached to the resolution, and to present to Parliament a legislative proposal to be included in its work programme for the year 2017.

On the 4 October 2016, in its follow-up to the resolution, the Commission indicated that it remained unconvinced that the benefits of codifying administrative law would outweigh the costs. Instead, the Commission proposed that concrete problems should be analysed as they arise and met with specific actions.

In its resolution of 26 October 2017 on monitoring the application of EU law 2015, the Parliament reiterated its call on the Commission to come forward with a comprehensive legislative proposal on a European law of administrative procedure, stressing that the lack of a codified rules of good administration across the Union makes it difficult for citizens to easily and fully understand their administrative rights under Union law, and also contributes to a deterioration of their legal protection.

In connection with the European Parliament's resolution from in June 2016 (2016/2610(RSP)), the European Parliament launched public consultation on general rules for an open independent and efficient European administration in December 2017. The consultation was open from 15.12.2017 to 09.03.2018 aiming to obtain a better understanding of the interactions of businesses and citizens with the EU institutions; provide a basis to evaluate the implementation of existing EU rules; identify possible shortcomings. In response to the consultation, the Parliament received 166 fully completed online responses from 20 EU Member States. Most responders supported additional measures at EU level to simplify EU administrative rules. Operational incoherence and the administrative burden costs were identified as the most problematic issues.

References:

• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file of Law of administrative procedure of the European Union, 2012/2024(INL)
• European Parliament, Answer given by First Vice-President Timmermans on behalf of the Commission to a Parliamentary question on the Law of Administrative Procedure of the European Union, E-001249/2016, 11 May 2016
• European Parliament, Texts adopted - Thursday, 9 June 2016 - A regulation for an open, efficient and independent European Union administration, P8_TA-PROV(2016)0279
• European Parliament, Resolution of 9 June 2016 for an open, efficient and independent European Union administration, 2016/2610(RSP)
• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file of resolution on an open, efficient and independent European Union administration, 2016/2610(RSP)
• European Parliament, Resolution of 26 October 2017 on monitoring the application of EU law 2015, 2017/2011(INI)
• European Parliament, Public consultation on general rules for an open independent and efficient European administration

Further reading:

• European Parliament, Library, Law of administrative procedure for the EU, Library Briefing, 10 January 2013
• European Parliament, IPOL, The general principles of EU administrative procedural law in-depth analysis. In depth analysis for the Legal Affairs Committee, June 2015
• European Parliament, IPOL, EU administrative law, At a Glance, April 2015

Author: Kristina Grošek, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu