Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) - Montesquieu Institute

This procedure is the standard decision-making procedure used in the European Union, unless the treaties specifically state one of the special leglisative procedures is to be applied to a particular subject. Before the Treaty of Lisbon came into force late 2009 it was referred to as the co-decision procedure . The essential characteristic of this procedure is that both the Council of Ministers as the European Parliament have a deciding vote in the legislative proces, and both institutions may amend a proposal.

Roughly, the ordinary legislative procedure proceeds as follows: the European Commission submits a proposal. The European Parliament (EP) and Council of Ministers (Council) will either approve or amend the proposal. If EP and Council cannot reach an agreement on the proposed amendments both can amend the proposal a second time. If they still cannot reach an agreement they enter negotiations. After these are concluded both institutions can either vote in favour or against.

Step 1: initiative

The European Commission submits a proposal to the Parliament and the Council.

Step 2: approval or amendments

The Parliament takes a vote on the proposal. There are two possible outcomes:

• 1. 

  the EP approves the proposal
• 2. 

  the EP amends the proposal

The - possibly amended - proposal is put before the Council. There are two possible outcomes:

• 1. 

  the Council approves the proposal, the proposal is adopted
• 2. 

  the Council amends the proposal. The Council is allowed to amend any possible amendments made by the Parliament

Step 3: amended proposal, second reading

The proposal as amended by the Council is submitted to Parliament. Parliament has four options:

• 1. 

  if the EP does not make any decision regarding the Council proposal, it is adopted
• 2. 

  the EP approves the amended proposal, it is adopted
• 3. 

  the EP rejects the proposal, the proposal is not adopted
• 4. 

  the EP amends the proposal. The Parliament is allowed to amend amendments made by the Council

If Parliament decides to amend the proposal, the proposal is sent to the Commission. The Commission will issue an opinion on the amended proposal, after which the proposal is submitted to the Council. At the Council, there are two possible outcomes:

• 1. 

  the Council approves the amended and reviewed proposal. Decision-making in the Council at this point depends on the advice of the Commission:
• - 

  if the Commission issued a positive opinion the Council decides on the basis of qualified majority voting 
• - 

  if the Commission issued a negative opinion the Council decides on the basis of unanimity
• 2. 

  the Council rejects the proposal, conciliation is initiated automatically

Step 4: conciliation

Step 5: third reading