Review of Status of the Commission's Register of Expert Groups and Their Composition

Book excerpt: This report aims to provide insights into the development, since 2016, of the European Commission’s system of Expert Groups, including the Register of Expert Groups, thus updating the European Parliament’s study ‘Composition of the Commission’s expert groups and the status of the register of expert groups’ (September 2015). The Update finds that the European Commission’s revised Horizontal Rules, introduced in May 2016, triggered important improvements in terms of balance of interests, transparency and gender balance. Notwithstanding, there is further room for enhancing the system, and this Update recommends: further strengthening balance with a specific focus on the Expert Groups that continue to experience imbalance; further enhance transparency of Expert Group deliberations; remind Expert Groups about the requirement for gender balance; for the European Commission to report on the system and evaluate the system’s performance; and to conduct further research on specific types of Expert Group members and the use of Expert Groups.