EU LEGISLATIVE ACTS

In the last 50 years, the EU has adopted more than 100,000 legislative acts

EU legislation comes in three main forms: Directives, Regulations, and Decisions. Directives are the most important and most general of the three. There are many important regulations as well, but usually regulations have a more narrow focus and limited application time. Decisions are the least general of the three. Directives are like real laws, and regulations and decisions are like government decrees.

Not all directives are created equal.’Regular Directives’ are adopted by the Council and the European Parliament (EP) acting together (under the so-called co-decision, rebranded as the 'ordinary legislative procedure'). The Commission also can adopt something called 'a Directive': Commission Directives are delegated acts which can only update and fill in the details of existing regular directives, and only when explicitly authorized by the Council and the EP.

Even if the annual legislative output is falling or stagnating, the EU powers are expanding, although at a declining rate.

Agriculture and Fisheries still account for 30% of all EU legislative acts, and although the share is falling, it is still the biggest. Foreign Relations seems going strong only because the numbers include the Common Commercial policy as well. There has been a gradual increase in the amount of legislation in the fields of Social, Environmental, & Consumer protection, and Regional Policy. Internal Market and Industrial Policy regulation comprises another big chunk

One of the major concerns of politics in the EU is the power of the Commission to adopt legislation. To ensure that the Commission is properly supervised, the Treaty of Lisbon introduced a distinction between Implementing and Delegated acts (directives, regulations, and decisions). With Delegated Acts  the Commission can supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of regular legislation. Delegated powers are given explicitly and the Council and the European Parliament can recall Delegated acts if needed. With Implementing Acts on the other hand, the Commission is given the power to implement regular EU rules.

Even specialists don't quite agree exactly what the differences are, and the EU institutions are regularly fighting over which definition should apply. Some claim that since the introduction of these new types of acts, the Commission has been increasing its power by adopting more Implementing rather than Delegated acts.' The share of Implementing acts from all legislation adopted by the Commission is growing since their introduction. Currently, around 2/3 of all acts are Implementing legislation which provides the Commission with considerable discretion.

Regulations account for a great share of EU rules. But regulations can range quite a bit in their importance: while some are general and truly consequential, others concern more trivial  matters like an appointment or a change to some intra-institutional rule. One way to account for the differences in importance is to separate regulations which have a fixed date of expiry from those who are in force indefinitely. A date of expiry is often called a ‘sunset close’. Most regulations are adopted without a sunset-clause, and the share of those with an expiry date has been steadily falling since the late 1990s.
 

Basic Acts

Regulations (Total last 5 years: 4301

2016: 538

2015: 846

2014: 977

2013: 1026

2012: 914

Directives (Total last 5 years: 100)

2016: 12

2015: 10

2014: 53

2013: 14

2012: 11

Decisions (Total last 5 years: 2792)

2016: 376

2015: 588

2014: 735

2013: 551

2012: 542

AMENDING ACTS

Regulations (Total last 5 years: 1899)

2016: 296

2015: 435

2014: 415

2013: 393

2012: 360

Directives (Total last 5 years: 194

2016: 16

2015: 28

2014: 44

2013: 64

2012: 42

Decisions (Total last 5 years: 860

2016: 116

2015: 205

2014: 178

2013: 160

2012: 201