Multi-Jurisdictional Composite Procedures - The Backbone to the EU's Single Regulatory Space

Abstract

The EU continuously struggles with the challenge of creating and maintaining a single integrated regulatory space. Implementation and administration of most EU policies are undertaken by EU and Member States bodies in close cooperation through multi-jurisdictional composite procedures. This ensures decentral, but integrated administration.

Although having been discussed in the legal literature and in some case law, specific problems of review and accountability persist despite the CJEU having more recently increased its focus on questions of effective judicial protection of individuals of multijurisdictional composite procedures. This article discusses the reasons for the continuous spread of multi-jurisdictional composite decision-making and reviews possibilities of holding actors to account within the EU’s single regulatory space. The article then outlines the path towards a more coherent, legal approach allowing for multi-jurisdictional cooperation without a de-facto loss of possibilities of protection of individual rights and of accountability of executive action.