Yes, the Commission can adopt regulations. The basic principle of legislation in the EU is in fact that the Council adopts regulatory provisions, often together with the European Parliament. The Commission plays a key role in this process since it has more or less a monopoly on the presentation of proposals.
The Commission can also itself adopt regulations. On the one hand, pursuant to provisions in the Treaties and, on the other hand, when the Council has empowered the Commission to adopt legislative measures which are to supplement or implement the legal acts of the Council – what are called implementing provisions. When issuing implementing provisions, the Commission must keep within the limits the Council has laid down in the legal text from which the Commission derives its power in the matter (the basic legislation).
In order to maintain a certain control over the regulations the Commission makes, the Council has established guidelines for the Commission when issuing regulations. According to these guidelines, the Commission must present its draft legislation to committees of officials from the Member States before the legal texts are issued. The word ‘comitology’ is used to denote the various procedures which apply in the relationship between the Commission, the committees of officials and the Council when the Commission adopts regulations.
Generally speaking, there are three types of procedure involving, respectively
1. advisory committees
2. management committees, and
3. regulatory committees
Advisory committees merely exist to advise the Commission, which is not obliged to adopt the committee’s opinion. In management and regulatory committees, on the other hand, votes are taken on the committees’ opinions and, if the vote goes against the Commission, the matter is put before the Council, which is thereby involved in the decision-making process.