Comitology: exercise of implementing powers conferred to the Commission

The committee adopted the second report by Richard CORBETT (PES, UK) on the Commission's proposal which the plenary had decided to refer back to committee (see summary dated 13/05/2003). It included a number of amendments contained in the first report, such as: - providing for the possibility of extending by another month the one-month deadline laid down for Parliament and the Council to register objections under the urgency procedure; - specifying that the proposed public register of documents sent to the EP under the procedure for adopting implementing measures should be set up by the Commission in 2003 and be available on the Internet; - stipulating that the special concessions and undertakings made by the Commission in the context of financial services legislation (the "Lamfalussy process", which assures Parliament a more favourable treatment) should continue to apply. Under a compromise reached with the Commission, the committee also partially modified the wording of amendments it had initially proposed concerning the procedure to be followed in the event of a disagreement between the Commission and the legislature (i.e. Parliament and Council). Hence, the references to the Commission "amending its draft to take account of the objections" of Parliament or Council were changed to provide for the Commission simply "taking account of the positions of the European Parliament and the Council". Moreover, the amended article stipulated that the Commission could adopt "the proposed draft of measures accompanied by an appropriate statement, or modify it, or withdraw its draft altogether".�