Delegated legislation and the role of committees in the EC

Book abstract:

This book is the outcome of a research seminar entitled 'Delegation of legislative powers in the European Community: the role of committees' held in London, January 1998. The seminar brought together academics of political and legal science from different countries of the European Community in order to provide an as diverse as possible set of perspectives on the topic. This interdisciplinary approach is also reflected in the book. Some of the chapters of the book are based on papers delivered at the seminar.

The first part of the book is primarily devoted to a political science perspective on comitology and provides a general theoretical framework. The second part is concerned with normative analysis, in a legal tradition, of the issue of delegation of legislative powers. The aim here is to see to what extent the national concepts and institutes of delegation of powers can contribute to a better understanding of the Community concept of delegation. The third part of the book concerns the institutional perspective and deals with the history of comitology and the role of the Court of Justice in the development of the system. The fourth and final part of the book examines various areas of EC law, including environmental law, product safety and other areas.

The book is concluded by a note on the Commission proposal for the new Comitology Decision. This proposal, which resulted in a Comitology Decision adopted in June 1999, demonstrates that the discussion on Comitology is of continuing interest to civil servants, political institutions and academics. This book makes a valuable contribution to that discussion.