Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament – Updating the handling of relations with the complainant in respect of the application of Union law

The European Union is sustained by respect for the rule of law. Its success in achieving its many goals as set out in the Treaties and in legislation depends on the effective application of Union law in the Member States. As guardian of the Treaties, the Commission acknowledges the vital role played by the complainant in helping the Commission to detect infringements of Union law.

In 2002 the Commission set out the procedures governing its relations with complainants in respect of infringement of Union law. Since then, the Commission has improved and expanded its methods of registering and treating correspondence from complainants concerning the application of Union law by the Member States. To reflect these changes, the Commission has decided to revise and update its 2002 Communication.

A new IT tool CHAP ("Complaint handling / Accueil des plaignants"), set up in September 2009, allows the Commission to respond more directly to the interests of citizens, business and civil society. All complaints are registered in this application. An acknowledgement of receipt is sent within fifteen working days of receipt, indicating that the correspondence has been registered as a complaint. Previously, correspondence was registered only after an assessment of its content.

The follow-up given to the complaint continues to be guided by the nature of the issue raised, the grounds on which it is based, its likely impact and the priorities laid down by the Commission in its Communication "A Europe of results – Applying Community law" [COM(2007)502 final].

The entry into force of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU) makes it necessary to update certain terms of the previous Communication which have been modified by the Treaty. There is also a need to clarify divergences in different linguistic versions of the previous Communication.

The Commission sets out in this Communication the administrative measures for the benefit of the complainant with which it undertakes to comply when handling his/her complaint and assessing the alleged infringement in question.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)154: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:154:FIN

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