Decision-Making in EU Administrative Law – The Problem of Composite Procedures

peer reviewedThis article addresses legal issues arising from the fast-paced evolutionary development in the EU towards a highly integrated legal system without a real central administrative body. Implementation of EU policies is increasingly undertaken by networks of administrations from different Member States with input from European institutions and bodies. Such integration of European-level and Member State administrative structures and procedures has led to what this article describes as ‘composite procedures.’ Problems arising from composite procedures are thus simultaneously well known to federal systems like the US, whilst at the same time raising questions very different from traditional federal legal orders. The article presents the problematique of composite procedures and suggests various approaches to solve the difficulties arising there from within the EU legal order