Remedies for the Commission's Failure to Act in "Comitology" Cases

In cases where EU law provides for the use of the "comitology" procedure, the Commission is required to initiate that procedure, normally by submitting a proposal to the relevant committee. This article considers the legal position when the Commission fails to take this first step. The article first analyses the arguments used by the Commission to dispute the applicability of art. 265 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) for failure to act in situations where the comitology procedure is used and then considers arguments that have been used by the Commission to justify its failure to act. Finally, the article considers the consequences of the Commission's approach in a number of these cases, where the Commission has taken action at the last possible moment and thereby avoided giving the EU Courts the opportunity to adopt a judgment making clear the Commission's obligations.