If your challenge to a delegated acts/ or implementing act/ measures does not succeed at the Committee stage, you can always return again at the Plenary.
The European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure deal with both delegated acts (Rule 111), and implementing acts and RPS measures (Rule 112).
Challenging Delegated acts
Even if a challenge fails at the Committee stage, a political group or a group of 38 MEPs can table a Motion for a Resolution to the delegated acts for a vote in plenary.
The challenge needs to do this 10 working days before the start of the part-session of which the Wednesday falls before and closet to the scrutiny deadline (Art. 111(3)).
The Committee can decide not to object or vote against an objection.
If that is the case, the Committee can start procedures to close down the objection.
Rule 111(6) lays out the steps and timetable for indicating early agreement with the Delegated act:
- . If the committee responsible recommends that, prior to the expiry of the deadline set in the basic legislative act, Parliament should declare that it has no objections to the delegated act:
- the committee responsible shall inform the Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs by means of a letter setting out its reasons and table a recommendation to that effect;
- if no objections are raised at the next meeting of the Conference of Committee Chairs, or, on grounds of urgency, by written procedure, the Chair of that body shall inform the President of Parliament, who shall in turn inform the plenary as soon as possible;
- if, within 24 hours following the announcement in Parliament, a political group or Members reaching at least the low threshold object to the recommendation, it shall be put to the vote;
- if, within the same period, no objections are raised, the proposed recommendation shall be deemed to have been approved;
- the adoption of such a recommendation shall render inadmissible any subsequent proposal objecting to the delegated act.
This is a deliberately tough procedure to beat, one which I am unaware of anyone achieving.
Challenging Implementing acts and measures
As with delegated acts, even if a challenge fails at the Committee stage, a political group or a group of 38 MEPs can table a Motion for a Resolution to the delegated acts for a vote in plenary. The challenge needs to do this 10 working days before the start of the part-session of which the Wednesday falls before and closet to the scrutiny deadline (Art. 112(4)(C)(2nd indent).
But, ‘if the committee responsible recommends, by means of a letter to the Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs setting out its reasons, that Parliament should declare that it has no objections to the proposed measure prior to the expiry of the normal time limit laid down in Article 5a(3)(c) and/or Article 5a(4)(e) of Decision 1999/468/EC, the procedure provided for in Rule 111(6) shall apply’.
I am not aware of such a challenge being tabled or succeeding.
And, having checked, it has never happened.
There is one challenge that was taken direct to the floor of the plenary that was adopted. But that was a matter of timing.