Participation In Eu Rule Making

The limited scope of participation in the making of EU law remains a continued source of controversy, featuring prominently in recent institutional and political developments that have been shaping the EU's constitutional framework - most intensely in the follow up of the Commission's White Paper on Governance. Yet little attention has been paid to participation rights as a means of ensuring the procedural protection of persons affected by EU regulation in its diverse forms. This is a dimension of the rule of law that has been largely ignored by EU legislative and judicial bodies. Not only the legislator, but also the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance tend to adhere to excessively formal conceptions of participation rights that are premised on the right to be heard in individual procedures, as well as to a restrictive view regarding the relationships between the citizens and the administration. This book shows why, in the face of new regulatory developments, these conceptions are currently inadequate to ensure the legal protection of rights and interests affected by EU regulation. Combining a conceptual analysis with thorough empirical scrutiny, this book assesses the scope of participation rights in EU law against their rationales and underlying legal values. It makes a case for the extension of participation rights to new situations and new types of procedures, in particular those that would generally fall within the category of rulemaking. It brings distinct normative insights into a crucial theme of EU administrative law, and makes a topical and timely contribution to the increasingly notable theme of public participation in EU regulation. Joanna Mendes' 2009 thesis upon which Participation in EU Rule-Making is based was awarded the the European University Institute (Florence) Mauro Cappelletti Prize for the best doctoral thesis using a methodology of comparative law

The last few years have seen major reforms to the delegation of powers and post-delegation supervision of the European Commission. In light of these reforms, Rulemaking by the European Commission: The New System for Delegation of Powers assesses whether the new system has really affected the old doctrine of delegation of powers, and if so, how? Specific questions answered include: have the objectives of the reform been achieved and what were these objectives? How does the new system affect the division of functions between the institutions of the EU and the institutional balance? Has this new system affected the relationship between the EU and its Member States, and if so, how does it concern its citizens? Presented by an interdisciplinary group of experts who have actively followed or participated in the process of reform, the book is structured in four parts: (1) the political and historical context in which the rule-making takes place, (2) the operation and functioning of the system before and after the reform, (3) the legal substance of a new framework for rule-making and the emerging case law from the Court of Justice of the EU, and (4) the procedural dimension, including the legal preconditions for non-institutional actors to participate.

Despite its centrality to academic discussions of power and influence, there is little consensus in legal scholarship over what constitutes an actor in rule-making. This book explores the range of actors involved in rule-making within European Union law and Public International law, and focuses especially on actors that are often overlooked by formative and doctrinal approaches. Drawing together contributions from many scholars in various fields the book examines such issues as the accommodation of new actors in the process of postnational rule-making, the visibility or covertness of actors within the process, and the role of social acceptance and legitimacy in postnational rule-making. In its endeavour to render and examine the work and effect of actors often side-lined in the study of postnational rule-making, this book will be of great use and interest to students and scholars of EU law, international law and socio-legal studies.

Managing the European Union offers a coherent overview of how particular pieces of EU law are produced and shows how they are actually adopted, from start to finish, resulting in an account of the process which is of both practical and academic interest. The title presents a holistic view of EU law-making using an adapted 'policy cycle', giving a concise account of the principles and practices involved in policy initiation, legislative decision-making, and delegated and implementing acts, as well as considering EU law-making in the perspective of good governance. The title includes many procedural details, as well as illustrative examples, which are not found in other books. Chapters include: - EU Law-Making and the Policy Cycle - Policy Initiation: the European Commission - Legislative Decision-Making: the Parliament and the Council - Delegated and Implementing Acts - Case Study: the EU Timber Regulation - Conclusions: EU Law-Making and EU Governance

This book advances a novel interpretation of EU governance. Its central claim is that the EU's regulatory successes within-and increasingly beyond-its borders rest on the emergence of a recursive process of framework rule making and revision by European and national actors across a wide range of policy domains. In this architecture, framework goals and measures for gauging their achievement are established by joint action of the Member States and EU institutions. Lower-level units are given the freedom to advance these ends as they see fit. But in return for this autonomy, they must report regularly on their performance and participate in a peer review in which their results are compared with those of others pursuing different means to the same general ends. The framework goals, performance measures, and decision-making procedures are themselves periodically revised by the actors, including new participants whose views come to be seen as indispensable to full and fair deliberation. The editors' introduction sets out the core features of this experimentalist architecture and contrasts it to conventional interpretations of EU governance, especially the principal-agent conceptions underpinning many contemporary theories of democratic sovereignty and effective, legitimate law making. Subsequent chapters by an interdisciplinary group of European and North American scholars explore the architecture's applicability across a series of key policy domains, including data privacy, financial market regulation, energy, competition, food safety, GMOs, environmental protection, anti-discrimination, fundamental rights, justice and home affairs, and external relations. Their authoritative studies show both how recent developments often take an experimentalist turn but also admit of multiple, contrasting interpretations or leave open the possibility of reversion to more familiar types of governance. The results will be indispensable for all those concerned with the nature of the EU and its contribution to contemporary governance beyond the nation-state.

This book presents in a concise and accessible way why the EU institutional system exists in its present form, how the EU fits into the world as a system of governance, and who is involved in EU policy processes. It outlines the historical context which has shaped the EU system, gives a summary of the system's basic principles and structures, and describes its actors, procedures and instruments. The main theme is to show that EU decision-making is not just a matter of action at some higher and separate level, of ‘them and us’, but rather that it involves different forms of cooperation between European, national and regional authorities, as well as interaction between public and private actors. Numerous short case studies illustrate how people’s day-to-day activities are affected by EU decisions, and how individuals’ concerns are represented in the decision-making process. The book provides insights and examples which will be very helpful for all students of European integration. It will also be a valuable resource for European citizens wishing to understand the basic realities and rationales, as well as some of the dilemmas, behind EU policy-making.

The Research Network on EU Administrative Law (ReNEUAL) was established in 2009 and now comprises well over one hundred scholars and practitioners active in the field of EU and comparative public law. The aim of the network is to contribute to the development of a legal framework in which the constitutional values of the EU can be embedded in the exercise of public authority. Drafted by four working groups addressing the main aspects of EU administrative procedure, the ReNEUAL Model Rules offer a toolkit for European and domestic authorities seeking to regulate administrative action, reinforcing general principles of EU law and identifying, on the basis of comparative research, best practices in different specific policies of the EU. The book includes an extended introduction chapter, followed by the Model Rules, which are organised into six parts. Part I addresses general issues concerning the scope of the Model Rules and their relation to existing rules in EU legislation and Member State law; Part II is concerned with rulemaking by EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies; Part III focuses on single case decision-making by EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies; Part IV addresses contracts of EU institutions, bodies, offices, and agencies; Part V discusses mutual assistance between administrations; and Part VI addresses inter-administrative information management.