Rule 57 : Opinions of committees

1.   Committees may be authorised to deliver an opinion pursuant to Rule 48 or Rule 55 if a matter falls to a substantial extent within their competence pursuant to Annex VI (1).

The opinion-giving committee may appoint a rapporteur for opinion from among its members or permanent substitutes or send its views in the form of a letter from the Chair.

2.   The Chairs and rapporteurs of the committee responsible and of any opinion-giving committee are bound by the principle of good and sincere cooperation. The rapporteurs of those committees shall keep each other informed and shall endeavour to agree on the texts that they decide to propose to their committees and on their positions with regard to amendments.

3.   Where the opinion concerns a proposal for a legally binding act, it shall consist of amendments to the text referred to the committee, accompanied, where appropriate, by short justifications. Such justifications shall be the responsibility of their author and shall not be put to the vote. If necessary, the opinion-giving committee may submit a short written justification for the opinion as a whole. That short written justification shall be the responsibility of the rapporteur for the opinion.

The committee responsible shall set a reasonable deadline by which the opinion-giving committees must deliver an opinion if it is to be taken into account by the committee responsible. Any changes to the announced timetable shall be immediately communicated by the committee responsible to the opinion-giving committees together with the justification for such change. The committee responsible shall not reach its final conclusions before that deadline has expired.

4.   Where the opinion does not concern a proposal for a legally binding act, it shall consist of amendments to the draft report of the committee responsible. The timetable set by the committee responsible shall allow the opinion-giving committees sufficient time to set a specific deadline to provide their amendments and to complete their work.

5.   The committee responsible shall put the amendments of the opinion-giving committees to the vote. Amendments from an opinion-giving committee which are not adopted by the committee responsible may be tabled by that opinion-giving committee directly for consideration by Parliament, except in the case of opinions pursuant to Rule 95, Rule 121 and Annex V.

6.   The opinions shall deal solely with those matters that fall within the areas of competence of the opinion-giving committee. Amendments falling outside the areas of competence of that opinion-giving committee shall not be admissible.

7.   All opinions adopted by the opinion-giving committees shall be annexed to the report of the committee responsible.

8.   The Chair and rapporteur of the opinion-giving committee shall be invited to take part in an advisory capacity in meetings of the committee responsible. The rapporteur of the opinion-giving committee shall also be invited in an advisory capacity to shadows meetings and preparatory meetings taking place within the framework of interinstitutional negotiations. As regards the ordinary legislative procedure, this paragraph shall only apply to the first-reading stage.