Enter to open, tab to navigate, enter to select
Secondary legislation (EU)
Practical Law UK Glossary w-009-9904 (Approx. 4 pages)
Glossary
Secondary legislation (EU)
Legally binding acts adopted usually, but not always, by the European Commission under powers given to it by the Council and European Parliament (in limited circumstances, the Council can adopt certain types of secondary legislation).
Secondary legislation can be:
- A delegated act under Article 290 of the TFEU.
- An implementing act under Article 291 of the TFEU.
- An act adopted using the legacy regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS).
Strictly speaking, these are not "secondary" legislation:
- Under EU law, the Treaties are the "primary" legislation.
- Legislative acts adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure or a special legislative procedure are "secondary" legislation.
- Implementing acts, delegated acts or acts adopted using RPS are, therefore, technically, "tertiary" acts.
However, in practice, the term, "tertiary legislation" is not used (section 3(2)(a) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 is a notable exception).
For further information, see Hierarchy of norms in EU law.