Article 92 GDPR
Legal Text
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.
2. The delegation of power referred to in Article 12(8) and Article 43(8) shall be conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time from 24 May 2016.
3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 12(8) and Article 43(8) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision of revocation shall put an end to the delegation of power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 12(8) and Article 43(8) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed by either the European Parliament or the Council within a period of three months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by three months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.
Relevant Recitals
166
Commentary
(1) Delegated acts
Under Article 290(1) TFUE a EU legislative act may delegate to the Commission the power to adopt non-legislative acts of general application to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of the legislative act. “The objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation of power” must be defined in the legislative act (in this case, the GDPR). The “essential elements of an area” (in this case, data protection) shall be reserved for the legislative act and cannot be delegated to the Commission. In accordance with the above framework, Article 92 provides that the commission may make use of this specific power in two cases identified in paragraph 2 below.
(2) Delegation of power under Article 12(8) and 43(8) GDPR
The first case of delegation concerns the case provided for in Article 12(8) GDPR pursuant to which the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 92 for the purpose of determining the information to be presented by the icons and the procedures for providing standardised icons.
The second scenario concerns Article 43(8) GDPR whereby the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 92 for the purpose of specifying the requirements to be taken into account for the data protection certification mechanisms referred to in Article 42(1).
Thus, by applying the general principles on delegation as seen above, the delegated act will have to respect the essential elements of the two reference areas (transparency pursuant to Article 12 and compliance with the Regulation pursuant to Article 42). At the same time, the delegated act may only bring in changes or amendments that do not contradict the GDPR general principles and objectives.
(3) The delegation of power may be revoked
The delegation is conferred on the Commission for an indeterminate period of time. It may in any case be revoked by the Council or the Parliament at any time. The revocation shall take effect the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein.
Should it be used to revoke the delegations granted in Articles 12(8) and 43(8) GDPR, the revocation will not affect the validity of any of the delegated acts that the Commission may have already adopted and which are in force at that point. This is, of course, without prejudice to the possibility that the two legislators, once the power has been resumed following revocation, may remove or amend the act issued by the Commission by an ordinary legislative act.
(4) Notification of delegated acts
As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it (together with the relevant documentation) simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
(5) Entry into force of delegated acts
After the Commission has notified the act (and the relevant documents), the Parliament and the Council have three months to express objections (or waive their intention to object). Upon expiry of that period, the delegated act “pursuant to Article 12(8) and Article 43(8) shall enter into force”.
Possible scenarios
(a) Parliament and Council inform the Commission of their intention not to object to the delegated act. In this case the delegated act can be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and can enter into force before the end of the three-month period.
(b) Parliament and Council express the same objection. In this case the Commission will most likely amend its act.
(c) Only one between the Parliament and the Council expresses an objection while the other remains silent. In this case, the Commission will probably amend the act as requested and await a reaction from the other legislator. If there is no reaction within three months, the act is published in the Official Journal.
(d) Parliament and Council express separate objections or different positions on the same issue. This can be resolved either by the Commission renouncing the power of delegation or by a dialogue between the two legislators.
(e) Parliament and the Council do not express any objections within three months of the date on which the act is notified to them. In this case the act shall enter into force.
Decisions
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