<TI> DECISION OF THE CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENTS OF <DATE ISO="20021212">12 DECEMBER 2002</DATE> <NOTE NOTE.ID="E0001" NUMBERING="ARAB" TYPE="FOOTNOTE"> This Decision was amended by a decision of the Conference of Presidents of <DATE ISO="20030626">26 June 2003</DATE> and was consolidated on <DATE ISO="20040503">3 May 2004</DATE>. It was further amended by a decision adopted in plenary on <DATE ISO="20060615">15 June 2006</DATE> concerning the interpretation of Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure and by a decision of the Conference of Presidents of <DATE ISO="20080214">14 February 2008</DATE>. </NOTE> </TI>

Article 1 General provisions <TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Scope</HT> </TI> 1.

This decision shall apply to the following categories of own-initiative reports:

(a) Legislative Own-Initiative Reports, drawn up on the basis of Article 192 EC Treaty and Rule 42 of the Rules of Procedure; (b) Strategic Reports, drawn up on the basis of non-legislative strategic and priority initiatives included in the Commission’s annual legislative and work programme; (c) Non-Legislative Own-Initiative Reports, not drawn up on the basis of a document of another Institution or body of the European Union or drawn up on the basis of a document forwarded to Parliament for information, without prejudice to Article 2(3); (d) Annual Activity and Monitoring Reports (as listed in Annex 1)

Parliamentary committees envisaging the drawing-up of annual activity and monitoring reports pursuant to Rule 119(1) of the Rules of Procedure or pursuant to other legal provisions (as included in Annex 2) shall give advance notification thereof to the Conference of Committee Chairs, indicating in particular, the relevant legal basis deriving from the Treaties and other legal provisions, including Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall subsequently notify them to the Conference of Presidents. Such reports shall be authorised automatically and shall not be subject to the quota referred to in Article 1(2).

; (e) Implementation Reports on the transposition of EU legislation into national law and the implementation and enforcement thereof in Member States. <TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Quota</HT> </TI> 2. Each parliamentary committee may simultaneously draft up to six own-initiative reports. For committees with sub-committees, this quota shall be increased by one report per sub-committee. This additional report shall be drawn up by the sub-committee.

The following shall not be subject to that ceiling:

legislative own-initiative reports,

implementation reports; each committee may draw up one such report a year.

<TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Minimum period before adoption</HT> </TI> 3. The parliamentary committee seeking authorisation may not adopt the report in question within the 3 months following the date of authorisation or, in the case of notification, within the 3 months following the date of the meeting of the Conference of Committee Chairs at which the report was notified.

Article 2 Conditions for authorisation 1. The proposed report must not deal with topics principally involving analysis and research activities which may be covered in other ways, for example by studies. 2. The proposed report must not deal with topics which have already been the subject of a report adopted in plenary during the previous 12 months, save where new information justifies it on an exceptional basis. 3.

With regard to reports to be drawn up on the basis of a document forwarded to Parliament for information, the following conditions shall apply:

the basic document must be an official document from an institution or body of the European Union and:

(a) have been forwarded officially to Parliament for consultation or information; or (b) have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union for the purpose of consultations with interested parties; or (c) be a document from an institution or body of the European Union which has been officially submitted to the European Council or a document produced by the latter,

the document must be forwarded in all the official languages of the European Union,

the request for authorisation must be submitted no later than 4 months after the date on which the document in question was forwarded to Parliament or on which it was published in the Official Journal.

4. Reports not referring to a basic document from a Community institution must not deal with topics to which specific reference has already been made in the annual legislative and work programme presented by the Commission and approved by Parliament for the current year.

Article 3 Procedure <TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Automatic authorisation</HT> </TI> 1.

Authorisation shall be granted automatically after notification of the request to the Conference of Committee Chairs for

implementation reports,

annual activity and monitoring reports, as listed in Annex 1.

<TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Role of the Conference of Committee Chairs</HT> </TI> 2. Duly substantiated requests for authorisation shall be forwarded to the Conference of Committee Chairs, which shall ascertain their compliance with the criteria set out in Articles 1 and 2 and with the quota established in Article 1. All such requests shall contain an indication of the type and the exact title of the report and the basic document(s), if any. 3. Requests for authorisation to draw up strategic reports shall be granted by the Conference of Committee Chairs after resolution of any conflict of competence. The Conference of Presidents may, at the specific request of a political group, revoke such authorisation within no more than 4 parliamentary business weeks. 4. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall forward to the Conference of Presidents, for authorisation, requests to draw up legislative own-initiative and non-legislative own-initiative reports that are assessed as being in compliance with the criteria and quota allocated. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall at the same time notify the Conference of Presidents of any annual activity and monitoring reports, as listed in Annexes 1 and 2, implementation reports and strategic reports that have been authorised. <TI> <HT TYPE="BOLD">Authorisation by the Conference of Presidents and resolution of conflicts of competence</HT> </TI> 5. The Conference of Presidents shall adopt a decision on requests for authorisation to draw up legislative own-initiative and non-legislative own-initiative reports within no more than 4 parliamentary business weeks after they have been forwarded by the Conference of Committee Chairs, unless it decides, on exceptional grounds, to extend that deadline. 6. If a committee’s competence to draw up a report is challenged, the Conference of Presidents shall take a decision within 6 parliamentary business weeks on the basis of a recommendation from the Conference of Committee Chairs or, if no such recommendation is forthcoming, its chair. If the Conference of Presidents fails to take a decision within that period, the recommendation shall be declared to have been approved

This paragraph was inserted following the decision adopted in plenary on 15 June 2006 concerning the interpretation of Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure.

Article 4 Application of Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure - procedure with associated committees

This article was inserted by means of a decision of the Conference of Presidents of 26 June 2003.

1. Requests for the application of Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure shall be submitted no later than the Monday preceding the meeting of the Conference of Committee Chairs at which requests to draw up own-initiative reports are to be dealt with. 2. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall deal with requests for authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports and those for the application of Rule 50 at its monthly meeting. 3. If the committees concerned fail to reach agreement on the request for application of Rule 50, the Conference of Presidents shall take a decision within 6 parliamentary business weeks on the basis of a recommendation from the Conference of Committee Chairs or, if no such recommendation is forthcoming, its chair. If the Conference of Presidents fails to take a decision within that period, the recommendation shall be declared to have been approved

This paragraph was inserted following the decision adopted in plenary on 15 June 2006 concerning the interpretation of Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure.

Article 5 Final provisions 1. Towards the end of the parliamentary term, requests for authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports must be submitted no later than in the July of the year preceding the elections. After that date, only duly substantiated exceptional requests shall be authorised. 2. The Conference of Committee Chairs shall submit to the Conference of Presidents a report on the progress of own-initiative reports every 2 ½ years. 3.

This decision shall enter into force on 12 December 2002. It cancels and replaces the following decisions:

decision of the Conference of Presidents of 9 December 1999 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports within the meaning of Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure, and the decisions of the Conference of Presidents of 15 February and 17 May 2001 updating the annex to that decision,

decision of the Conference of Presidents of 15 June 2000 on the procedure for authorising the drawing-up of reports on documents forwarded to the European Parliament for information by other institutions or bodies of the European Union.