1. New voting rules in Regulatory Committe
Silvia FERRATINI
EU Ecolabel coordinator
5 November 2014

2. Current voting system in Reg Com: Qualified majority
352 votes in total; each MS has a certain number of votes according to size of population (from 3 to 29).
The qualified majority is reached if the following two conditions are met:
a majority of MS (15) vote in favour
a minimum of 260 votes out of the total 352 votes are cast in favour
An abstention = vote against
France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom: 29 votes each
Spain, Poland: 27 votes each
Romania: 14 votes
Netherlands: 13 votes
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal: 12 votes each
Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden: 10 votes each
Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Finland: 7 votes each
Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Slovenia: 4 votes each
Malta: 3 votes
In addition, until 31 October 2014, a member state may ask for confirmation that the votes in favour represent at least 62% of the total EU population. If this is found not to be the case, the decision will not be adopted
Abstention is not the same as not participating in the vote. Any member can abstain at any time.

3. "Double Majority voting"
Lisbon Treaty introduces a new voting system in Council for taking decisions by qualified majority
As from 1 November 2014 the "double majority" voting is introduced and will apply also to Comitology Commitees
Transitional period up to 31 March 2017: MSs can request the application of the current weighting system (in written form to the Committee chair between the submission of draft act and the vote, or preferebly before the launch of a written procedure; orally during a Committee meeting before the vote)

4. Double Majority voting means that qualified majority is attained if:
55% of MSs vote in favour (at least 16 MSs)
MSs voting in favour represents at least 65% of the population of the Union
Blocking minority must include at least the minimum number of MSs which represents more than 35% of the population + 1 MS (=4MSs)
35% population= DE + 2 of the most populous MS (FR, UK, IT, ES, PL (safe the cae DE-ES-PL)
Or FR-UK-IT

5. If no all MSs participate in the vote:
55% of participating MSs vote in favour
MSs voting in favour represents at least 65% of the population of the participating MSs