The clerk has circulated to members a document on the scrutiny of EU legislation. The document is divided into four sections. Section 1 refers to proposals adopted prior to the scrutiny process being put in place and section 2 refers to any additional proposals, in this case a Commission Green Paper on the conversion of the Rome convention of 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations into a Community instrument and its modernisation.
Section 3 refers to matters that the sub-committee on EU legislation has referred to this joint committee with a recommendation that no further scrutiny is required. These are published on green paper. Section 4 refers to matters that the sub-committee on EU legislation has referred to this joint committee where the recommendation is that further scrutiny may be required. Sections 1 and 2 are primarily for members' information but sections 3 and 4 must be considered.
The sub-committee on EU legislation has referred to the joint committee two matters with a recommendation that no further scrutiny is required. Members are advised that the committee must take a formal decision to accept the recommendation of the sub-committee and that no further consideration is required. Is it agreed that no further scrutiny of these two matters is required? Agreed.
On section 4, one item has been referred for further scrutiny, COM/2002/0672, a proposal for a Council regulation for the conservation of fishery resources through technical measures for the protection of juveniles of marine organisms. Provided that neither the Digital Hub Development Agency Bill nor the Fisheries (Amendment) Bill are referred to the select committee, the next joint committee meeting should be used to scrutinise COM/2002/0672.
