(1)

Article 3 of Protocol 1 of the Agreement between the EFTA States on the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice as adjusted by the Protocol Adjusting the Agreement between the EFTA States on the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice, “the Surveillance and Court Agreement”, lays down that where in an act referred to in the Annexes to the EEA Agreement containing the procedures described in Article 1, the European Commission shall submit a draft measure to be taken to, or otherwise consult, an EU committee, the EFTA Surveillance Authority shall, according to corresponding procedures to be laid down by the Standing Committee, consult a corresponding committee, if any, set up or designated in accordance with the Agreement on a Standing Committee of the EFTA States.

(2)

The European Parliament and the Council in Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (1), have laid down the rules and general principles concerning the rules and general principles governing the mechanisms which apply where a legally binding Union act (a ‘basic act’) identifies the need for uniform conditions of implementation and requires that the adoption of implementing acts by the Commission be subject to the control of Member States;

(3)

The Standing Committee of the EFTA States has laid down the general rules describing the procedures to be followed when committees assist the EFTA Surveillance Authority in Standing Committee Decision No 3/2012 (new comitology procedures) in order to align those procedures with those adopted in Regulation (EU) No 182/2011;

(4)

Some Standing Committee Decisions currently in force which designate committees to assist the EFTA Surveillance Authority refer to obsolete legal acts which have been repealed from the EEA Agreement and may refer to procedures which have been modified as a result of the entry into force of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. It is thus necessary to update all the current decisions designating committees adopted by the Standing Committee under Article 5(2) of the Agreement on a Standing Committee of the EFTA States and to indicate the procedure to be followed by the EFTA Surveillance Authority in each specific case.

(5)

In order to simplify and clarify the process of designation of the committees, all committees to which the EFTA Surveillance Authority must submit draft measures or must otherwise consult are hereby designated in a single decision and the separate decisions currently in force should be repealed.

(6)

It is unnecessary, however, to designate the committees to assist the Authority in the exercise of its powers in the field of competition and state aid as those committees are already designated and established by Protocols 3 and 4 to the Agreement between the EFTA States on the establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of Justice.

(7)

The procedure applicable when the EU Commission must submit a draft measure to be taken to or otherwise consult a committee is set out in the act in question. The procedure applicable to the EFTA Surveillance Authority when it shall do so in accordance with an act referred to in the Annexes to the EEA Agreement must be the procedure laid down in the Decision of the Standing Committee of the EFTA States No 3/2012 (deciding the comitology procedures) which most closely corresponds to the procedure laid down in the act referred to in the Annexes to the EEA Agreement. Consequently, it is unnecessary to specify the procedure applicable to the committee upon its designation.

(8)

As for existing acts, Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 lays down certain transitional measures for the adaptation of the existing basic acts in the EU legal order which obviate the need for a modification of each of those acts. Article 7 of Standing Committee Decision No 3/2012 (new comitology procedures) contains a similar provision on the adaptation of existing procedures.

(9)

The EFTA Surveillance Authority will propose to the Committees standard rules of procedure for them to adopt.