EU: Article 308

Lord Pearson of Rannoch
asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the debate on 19 February (Official Report, col. 880), for which legal instruments Article 308 of the treaty establishing the European Community has been used as the legal base since 1997. [HL2277]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman)
The information requested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Article 308 requires, in order for it to be used as a legal base for action, that a proposal be necessary for the attainment of a Community objective and have unanimous support at the Council. The Government have given an undertaking that, where the Commission puts forward a legislative proposal citing Article 308 as its legal base, the Commission's justification of this choice of legal base and the Government's assessment of that choice will be provided to the scrutiny committees.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch
asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the debate on 19 February (Official Report, col. 881), what are their criteria for accepting the use of Article 308 of the treaty establishing the European Community as the legal base for European Union legal instruments. [HL2278]

Lord Triesman
In assessing the legal base of proposals brought forward by the Commission, the Government apply criteria laid down by the Court of Justice in case law dating back to the 1980s and consider each proposal as a whole, in particular its aim and content. Article 308 requires that a proposal be necessary for the attainment of a Community objective and that the Council must act unanimously. The Government have given an undertaking that, where the Commission puts forward a legislative proposal citing Article 308 as its legal base, the Commission's justification of its choice of legal base and the Government's assessment of that choice will be provided to the scrutiny committees.