Non-legislative procedures

Any interinstitutional lawmaking procedure that is not a legislative one, within the meaning of the European Union (EU) treaties, is considered to be a non-legislative procedure. These procedures are often given the acronym ‘NLE’ (non-legislative enactment).

Besides legal acts adopted under the ordinary or special legislative procedures, which are legislative acts, many non-legislative acts are adopted by the European Commission or the Council of the European Union.

Many of these non-legislative acts are delegated acts (Article 290 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union – TFEU), where the Commission or the Council has been empowered to adopt legal acts that supplement or amend non-essential parts of the legislative act. The legislative acts define the objectives, content, scope and duration of such delegations of power.

There are also implementing acts (Article 291 TFEU) where, as a general rule, having consulted a committee in which every EU Member State is represented, the Commission can adopt uniform conditions for the implementation of a legislative act.

Implementing and delegated acts may not, however, exceed the framework established in the basic act.

Although delegated and implementing acts account for the majority of non-legislative procedures, other examples include:

the ratification of certain international agreements negotiated by the EU under Article 218 TFEU;
acts adopted in cases of a serious breach of fundamental rights under Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU);
the accession of new Member States under Article 49 TEU;
arrangements for the withdrawal from the EU under Article 50 TEU;
directives adopted through the social protocol procedure under Articles 154 and 155 TFEU.