Law-making process

The European Union is based on the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, signed and approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU Member States. The Treaties set out the Union’s general objectives and competences. Specific objectives for every institutional cycle are defined in the Council’s Strategic Agenda and the Political Guidelines of the Commission President-designate. To exercise the Union’s competences and achieve its objectives, the EU institutions adopt policies and legal acts. The Commission presents its yearly plans of all major initiatives, including legal acts in the annual Commission Work Programme.

The European Union is based on the rule of law, which ensures that authorities of all levels act within the constraints and in compliance with the law.

On this page, you can find general information regarding the types of EU law, the ‘Better Regulation’ policy and the different stages through which an EU law is developed. Further information is accessible through the relevant links.

Types of EU legal act

The main kinds of EU legal act are:

EU Treaties
Regulations
Directives
Decisions
Recommendations
Opinions

These different types of legal acts are created and approved in different ways as defined in the Treaties. Legislative acts apply across the EU, with certain exceptions.

The stages of EU law-making

Preparing EU law

Except in the case of a change of the Treaties, and other specific situations defined in the Treaties, the European Commission is responsible for planning, preparing and proposing new legislation, a competence called ‘the Right of Initiative’. The Commission can also do so in response to requests from the European Council, the Council of the EU, the European Parliament or a successful European Citizens’ Initiative.

The choice of the legal act to accomplish the set objectives depends on the area, already existing EU law in this area as well as the EU competences in that area.

When preparing proposals for EU law, the Commission applies the principles and requirements of better regulation. Its aim is to ensure that EU policymaking is based on evidence, takes into account the impact on stakeholders, avoids unnecessary burdens, and involves citizens, businesses and stakeholders in the decision-making process through public consultations. The Commission ensures transparent and efficient decision-making: all citizens and stakeholders can consult information on the upcoming Commission initiatives and provide their feedback to the public consultations and other feedback opportunities on Have Your Say: Public consultations and feedback portal. Since 2023, relevant initiatives are also informed by recommendations of the pan-European citizens’ panels. All impact assessments, fitness checks and selected evaluations are scrutinised by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board.

Adopting EU law

Following agreement by the College of Commissioners, the Commission publishes the legislative proposal and the accompanying impact assessment report. Citizens and stakeholders then have an opportunity to provide feedback. The Commission submits the proposal to the European Parliament and the Council for adoption.

Most of the legislative acts – regulations, directives and decisions – are adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in the ordinary legislative procedure, and in specific cases provided by the Treaties, by the European Parliament with the participation of the Council or by the Council with the participation of the European Parliament using the in the special legislative procedure detailed below. Adoption of the legislative acts is preceded by interinstitutional negotiations.

Ordinary Legislative Procedure

Once the Commission has presented its proposal, both the Parliament and the Council review it and can propose amendments. Typically, the Parliament, the Council and the Commission then meet to see if they can agree on a complete set of amendments. If the Commission does not agree with any amendments, the Council can only overrule the objection by unanimous decision. If the Commission considers that the amendments excessively change the proposal, it has the right to withdraw its proposal. If the three institutions do not agree on a common final text, a second reading takes place.

During the second reading, the Parliament and the Council can propose further amendments. Parliament can also block the proposal if it cannot agree with the Council.

If the Parliament and the Council agree on the amendments, the proposal can be adopted. If they cannot agree, a conciliation committee is set up to try to find a solution. Both the Parliament and the Council can block the proposal during this final second reading stage.

A proposal is adopted into law when the Parliament and Council agree on a joint text, and it is published in the EU’s Official Journal.

Special Legislative Procedure

The treaties do not give a precise description of special legislative procedures. The rules are therefore defined ad hoc, on the basis of the relevant treaty articles.In this case, the Council is, in practice, the sole legislator. The European Parliament is required to give its consent to a legislative proposal or be consulted on it although the Right of Initiative still resides with the European Commission

There are two types of Special Procedure:

Consent: the European Parliament has the power to accept or reject a legislative proposal by an absolute majority vote but cannot amend it. This procedure applies to legislative areas such as internal market exemptions and competition law
Consultation: the European Parliament may approve, reject or propose amendments to a legislative proposal. It is used mainly for new legislation on combating discrimination as well as specific cases international agreements and agreements concerning membership of the EU as well cases of Member States that are at risk of breaching or are found to have breached EU Values.

Finally in some cases the Treaty also provides for legislative acts adopted on a recommendation of member states or the European Parliament, on a recommendation by the European Central Bank or a request by the European Court of Justice or European Investment Bank.

The Commission proposal is also submitted to the Member States’ Parliaments to examine if the issue would be better addressed at the national rather than the EU level. National Parliaments express their views in opinions, to which the Commission replies. Where relevant and in line with agreed plans, the proposals are shared with the consultative committees – the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee – that express their views in Opinions.

All adopted EU legal acts can be found in Eur-Lex legislative database.

Implementing EU law

The European Commission, as ‘Guardian of the Treaties’ ensures that once EU Law is adopted by the legislators (the European Parliament and/or the Council of the EU ), it is properly implemented by the Member States via specific mechanisms foreseen in the laws and Treaties. Information on the monitoring of EU law and the measures taken in response to potential findings is regularly published by the Commission. The Commission announced on 11 February 2025 further measures to strengthen implementation of EU law through close cooperation with the stakeholders and Member States, and support to Member States.

Evaluating and improving

Following its adoption and entry into force, the European Commission continuously monitors and periodically evaluates legislation, to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and delivers the desired results to European citizens and businesses at the minimum necessary cost. In line with the ‘evaluate first’ principle, evaluations are conducted prior to legislative work and feed their evidence into the subsequent work on policy or programme revision. The main findings of evaluations are summarised in staff working documents, which are published on EUR-Lex. As announced in the Communication of 11 February 2025, The Commission is also strengthening efforts to simplify EU legislation in force to reduce the administrative and reporting burden for the businesses and other stakeholders. The objective is to reduce reporting – related costs for businesses by 25%, and for SMEs by 35%, in order to boost EU competitiveness, prosperity and resilience.