EU-policy glossary
Lex defines 97 EU policy terms from official EU sources such as EUR-Lex, the European Parliament, the Council and published EU legal acts. Each entry links the definition back to the source record and onward to relevant law and lobbying pages.
All terms A-Z
AcquisAI ActAmendmentApplication dateArticleBlocking minorityCBAMCE markingCELEXCodificationComitologyCommittee stageCompromise amendmentConciliationConformity assessmentConsolidationCOREPERCorrigendumCouncil general approachCrypto-asset service providerCSDDDCSRDData ActData Governance ActDecisionDelegated actDelegated directiveDelegated powersDelegated regulationDirectiveDisclosed meetingDMADORADSADue diligenceEEA relevanceEntry into forceESRSETSEUDREUR-LexFirst readingGatekeeperGDPRGPAI modelHarmonisationHigh-risk AI systemImpact assessmentImplementing actImplementing decisionImplementing regulationInfringement procedureLegal basisLegislative proposalLegislative trainLobbying footprintMandateMarket surveillanceMiCAMutual recognitionNIS2Notified bodyOEILOfficial JournalOpinionOrdinary legislative procedureOwn-initiative reportPlenary voteProcedure referenceProportionalityProvisional agreementPublic consultationQualified majority votingRapporteurReasoned opinionRecitalRecommendationRED IIIRegulationRegulatory sandboxRepealRoll-call voteScrutiny periodSecond readingShadow rapporteurSingle marketSoft lawSubsidiaritySystemic riskTaxonomy RegulationTransparency RegisterTranspositionTransposition deficitTrilogueTrusted flaggerVery large online platformVery large online search engine
Legislative process
Amendmentdefine →An amendment is a proposed change to draft legislative text or a parliamentary report during the EU law-making process.Blocking minoritydefine →A blocking minority is the group of Member States large enough under Council voting rules to prevent a qualified majority from being reached.Comitologydefine →Comitology is the system of committees through which EU countries oversee how the Commission adopts implementing acts.Committee stagedefine →Committee stage is the part of parliamentary work where the responsible committee examines a file, drafts a report and votes before plenary.Compromise amendmentdefine →A compromise amendment is text negotiated between political groups to replace or consolidate several amendments into a version that can command majority support.Conciliationdefine →Conciliation is the formal stage in the ordinary legislative procedure used when Parliament and Council still disagree after second reading.Council general approachdefine →A Council general approach is the Council's political agreement on its negotiating position for a legislative file before talks with Parliament.Delegated powersdefine →Delegated powers are powers given by a legislative act to the Commission to adopt delegated acts within defined limits.First readingdefine →First reading is the opening stage of the ordinary legislative procedure in which Parliament and Council examine the Commission proposal and may adopt positions.Legislative proposaldefine →A legislative proposal is the draft legal act put forward by the Commission for consideration by the Parliament and Council.Mandatedefine →A mandate is the authorised negotiating position that lets Parliament or Council representatives enter interinstitutional negotiations on a file.Ordinary legislative proceduredefine →The ordinary legislative procedure is the main EU law-making process in which the European Parliament and the Council act as co-legislators on a Commission proposal.Own-initiative reportdefine →An own-initiative report is a European Parliament report adopted on Parliament's own initiative, often to state priorities or request action from the Commission.Plenary votedefine →A plenary vote is a vote of the full European Parliament, used to adopt positions, amendments and final legislative texts.Provisional agreementdefine →A provisional agreement is the political deal reached between Parliament and Council negotiators before formal approval by the institutions.Qualified majority votingdefine →Qualified majority voting is the Council voting method in which a measure needs support from a required share of Member States representing a required share of the EU population.Rapporteurdefine →A rapporteur is the MEP appointed by a parliamentary committee to steer a file, draft the report and represent Parliament in negotiations.Scrutiny perioddefine →The scrutiny period is the time Parliament and Council have to object to a delegated act before it can enter into force.Second readingdefine →Second reading is the later stage of the ordinary legislative procedure used when Parliament and Council have not agreed at first reading.Shadow rapporteurdefine →A shadow rapporteur is an MEP appointed by a political group to follow a file, negotiate the group's position and work with the rapporteur.Triloguedefine →A trilogue is an informal negotiation between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission used to reach a provisional deal on EU legislation.
Legal instruments
Application datedefine →An application date is the date from which particular provisions of an EU act must actually be applied.Articledefine →An article is a numbered operative provision of an EU legal act and is where binding rules, definitions, obligations and procedures are usually set out.CE markingdefine →CE marking is the visible mark by which a product or system declares conformity with applicable EU requirements before being placed on the market.Codificationdefine →Codification is the process of replacing an act and its amendments with a new single act without changing the substance.Conformity assessmentdefine →Conformity assessment is the process for demonstrating that a product, system or service meets applicable EU legal requirements.Decisiondefine →A decision is a binding EU act; when it names addressees, it is binding only on those addressees.Delegated actdefine →A delegated act is a non-legislative act adopted by the Commission to supplement or amend non-essential elements of a legislative act after the legislature has delegated that power.Delegated directivedefine →A delegated directive is a delegated act adopted as a directive, used to supplement or amend elements of a legislative act while still requiring national implementation.Delegated regulationdefine →A delegated regulation is a delegated act adopted in the legal form of a regulation, usually to supplement or amend technical elements of a parent act.Directivedefine →A directive is a binding EU act that sets the result Member States must achieve while leaving national authorities to choose the form and methods.Entry into forcedefine →Entry into force is the date when an EU act becomes legally in force, usually after publication in the Official Journal or on a date set in the act.Harmonisationdefine →Harmonisation is the creation of common EU rules to align national laws or requirements across Member States.Implementing actdefine →An implementing act is a Commission act used when uniform conditions are needed for implementing legally binding EU acts across Member States.Implementing decisiondefine →An implementing decision is an implementing act adopted as a decision to ensure uniform implementation of EU law, often for specific addressees or determinations.Implementing regulationdefine →An implementing regulation is an implementing act adopted as a regulation to set uniform implementation conditions across Member States.Legal basisdefine →A legal basis is the Treaty provision that gives the EU institutions competence to adopt a particular act and determines the procedure to use.Mutual recognitiondefine →Mutual recognition is the internal market principle that goods or services lawfully marketed in one Member State should normally be accepted in another.Notified bodydefine →A notified body is an organisation designated by a Member State to carry out third-party conformity assessment tasks under EU harmonisation law.Opiniondefine →An opinion is a non-binding EU act through which an institution expresses a view without creating legal obligations.Recitaldefine →A recital is an explanatory paragraph before the operative articles of an EU act that sets context, purpose and reasoning for the rules.Recommendationdefine →A recommendation is a non-binding EU act used by EU institutions to suggest a course of action without imposing legal obligations.Regulationdefine →A regulation is a binding EU act that applies directly in all Member States without needing national transposition.Repealdefine →A repeal is the formal removal of an existing legal act or provision, usually by a later EU act.Soft lawdefine →Soft law is a shorthand for non-binding EU instruments such as guidance, recommendations and communications that influence behaviour without creating direct legal obligations.Transpositiondefine →Transposition is the process by which Member States incorporate a directive's required results into national law.
Institutions and records
Acquisdefine →The acquis is the body of EU rights, obligations, law and policy that binds Member States and frames accession and compliance.CELEXdefine →CELEX is the unique identifier used by EUR-Lex to identify EU legal documents, including treaties, legislation, preparatory acts and case-law.Consolidationdefine →Consolidation combines an EU act and its later amendments into a single readable text for documentary use.COREPERdefine →COREPER is the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Council body that prepares work for ministers and handles many political and technical compromises.Corrigendumdefine →A corrigendum is an official correction to a published EU document, often fixing linguistic, typographical or technical errors.EEA relevancedefine →EEA relevance indicates that an EU act is considered relevant for incorporation into the European Economic Area framework.EUR-Lexdefine →EUR-Lex is the official online access point for EU law, including the Official Journal, treaties, legislation, case-law and preparatory documents.Legislative traindefine →The Legislative Train is a European Parliament tracker that presents selected legislative files by policy area and stage.OEILdefine →OEIL is the European Parliament Legislative Observatory, which tracks procedure files, stages, responsible committees and parliamentary documents.Official Journaldefine →The Official Journal is the official publication of EU legal acts and other formal notices.Procedure referencedefine →A procedure reference is the identifier for an EU legislative procedure, commonly shown in formats such as 2021/0106(COD).
Transparency and procedure
Disclosed meetingdefine →A disclosed meeting is a public record that an EU official or MEP met a listed organisation or representative on a stated date and topic.Impact assessmentdefine →An impact assessment is the Commission analysis of a planned initiative's likely economic, social and environmental effects and policy options.Infringement proceduredefine →An infringement procedure is the Commission process for addressing a Member State's failure to comply with EU law.Lobbying footprintdefine →A lobbying footprint is a structured view of an organisation's disclosed EU policy contacts, topics and institutional touchpoints.Market surveillancedefine →Market surveillance is the activity of public authorities checking that products or systems on the market comply with applicable EU rules.Proportionalitydefine →Proportionality is the EU principle that action should not exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties.Public consultationdefine →A public consultation is a Commission feedback process that lets stakeholders and citizens submit views or evidence on planned EU policy action.Reasoned opiniondefine →A reasoned opinion is a formal Commission step in an infringement procedure explaining why it believes a Member State is breaching EU law.Roll-call votedefine →A roll-call vote records how each MEP voted, rather than only the aggregate result.Subsidiaritydefine →Subsidiarity is the EU principle that, outside exclusive EU competences, action should be taken at EU level only when objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by Member States alone.Transparency Registerdefine →The EU Transparency Register is the public register for organisations and self-employed individuals carrying out activities aimed at influencing EU policy and decision-making.Transposition deficitdefine →The transposition deficit is the share of internal market directives that Member States have not transposed into national law on time.
Digital policy
AI Actdefine →The AI Act is the EU regulation laying down harmonised rules for artificial intelligence, including bans, high-risk system duties, transparency rules and GPAI obligations.Crypto-asset service providerdefine →A crypto-asset service provider is a person or undertaking authorised under MiCA to provide listed crypto-asset services to clients on a professional basis.Data Actdefine →The Data Act is an EU regulation setting rules on access to and use of data, including connected-product data, business-to-government data access and cloud switching.Data Governance Actdefine →The Data Governance Act is an EU regulation creating governance rules for data intermediation services, data altruism and reuse of certain protected public-sector data.DMAdefine →The Digital Markets Act is an EU regulation that sets obligations and prohibitions for designated gatekeepers providing core platform services.DORAdefine →DORA is the Digital Operational Resilience Act, an EU regulation on ICT risk management, incident reporting, resilience testing and third-party ICT risk in financial services.DSAdefine →The Digital Services Act is an EU regulation that sets due diligence, transparency and risk-management obligations for online intermediaries and platforms.Gatekeeperdefine →A gatekeeper is an undertaking designated under the Digital Markets Act because it provides core platform services and meets the act's size, control and durability criteria.GDPRdefine →GDPR is the General Data Protection Regulation, the EU regulation governing personal data processing and data protection rights.GPAI modeldefine →A GPAI model is a general-purpose AI model under the AI Act, capable of performing a wide range of distinct tasks and integrated into downstream systems.High-risk AI systemdefine →A high-risk AI system is an AI system that falls within the AI Act's listed high-risk areas or safety-component rules and is subject to stricter requirements.MiCAdefine →MiCA is the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, the EU regime for crypto-asset issuance, offers, admission to trading and crypto-asset service providers.NIS2define →NIS2 is the EU directive setting cybersecurity risk-management and reporting duties for essential and important entities across many sectors.Regulatory sandboxdefine →A regulatory sandbox is a controlled framework in which competent authorities can support testing of innovative systems under defined conditions.Systemic riskdefine →Under the DSA, systemic risk refers to broad risks linked to very large platforms or search engines, including illegal content, fundamental rights, civic discourse, public security and public health.Trusted flaggerdefine →A trusted flagger is an entity awarded special status under the Digital Services Act for expertise and reliability in flagging illegal content.Very large online platformdefine →A very large online platform is an online platform designated under the Digital Services Act because it reaches the DSA threshold for very large services in the EU.Very large online search enginedefine →A very large online search engine is a search service designated under the Digital Services Act because it reaches the DSA threshold for very large search engines in the EU.
Sustainability policy
CBAMdefine →CBAM is the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a regulation that puts a carbon price adjustment on certain imported goods to mirror EU carbon costs.CSDDDdefine →CSDDD is the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which sets corporate due diligence duties for human rights and environmental impacts in operations and chains of activities.CSRDdefine →CSRD is the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which expands EU sustainability reporting duties for companies and ties reporting to European Sustainability Reporting Standards.Due diligencedefine →In EU sustainability law, due diligence means processes to identify, prevent, mitigate, bring to an end and account for certain adverse human rights or environmental impacts.ESRSdefine →ESRS are the European Sustainability Reporting Standards used under CSRD to specify the sustainability information companies must report.ETSdefine →The EU ETS is the EU Emissions Trading System, a cap-and-trade framework for greenhouse gas emissions from covered sectors.EUDRdefine →EUDR is the EU Deforestation Regulation, which sets due diligence rules for placing or exporting certain commodities and products linked to deforestation risk.RED IIIdefine →RED III is the 2023 revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, updating EU renewable energy targets and sector rules.Single marketdefine →The single market is the EU area in which goods, services, persons and capital can move under common rules and without unjustified internal barriers.Taxonomy Regulationdefine →The Taxonomy Regulation creates an EU classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities.
Definitions are paraphrased from official public records and cite the source used for each term. See also the EU law explainers, lobbying-by-law pages, and the official EUR-Lex glossary. Data © European Union; Lex pages are published at https://www.meetlex.eu.