The history of comitology-the system of implementation committees that control the Commission in the execution of delegated powers-has been characterised by institutional tensions. The crux of these tensions has often been the role of the European Parliament and its quest to be granted powers equal to those of the Council. This process came to a head with the 2006 Comitology reform and the introduction of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny (RPS). After just over three years of experience with the RPS procedure, the Treaty of Lisbon has made it redundant through the creation of Delegated Acts (Article 290 TFEU). This article aims to evaluate the practical implications that Delegated Acts will entail for the Parliament, principally by using the experience with the RPS to better understand the challenges ahead. This analysis will be of interest to those following the study of comitology, formal and informal inter-institutional relations and also to practitioners who will have to work with Delegated Acts in the future.

This article explores the diplomatic implications of a central pillar in EU external relations: the development of interregional relations. In particular, the article investigates the emergence of a specific pattern of interregional relations — 'complex interregionalism' — and develops an initial framework for the analysis of this phenomenon. This framework allows for a detailed investigation of how the EU has simultaneously engaged in bilateral, multilateral and interregional relations across the globe. The EU — notably the Commission — is found to have a consistent and coherent complex interregional strategy that it employs across three world regions: Asia; Africa; and Latin America. This strategy embodies multi-level interregional relations, but aspires to the creation of 'pure interregionalism' between the EU and other customs unions. Such a strategy presents two key tensions that lie at the heart of 'complex interregionalism': the first tension is between the reality of multi-level diplomacy and the desire for 'pure interregionalism'; and the second is between the Commission's strategic vision and the realities of Council-shaped diplomacy. Analysis of the internal and external dynamics of the strategic pursuit of interregionalism, and the failure to implement it fully, can thus offer important insights for the study of both the EU's external relations and EU diplomacy.

Glycaemic impact is an important health-related property of foods which may be controlled by regulating glycaemic carbohydrate release during digestion. Equations were derived for designing surface-digested particles of defined glycaemic impact. They related the proportion (P) of a particle digested after T minutes of digestion to the initial particle diameter (D 0 millimetres) and the mean rate of superficial volume erosion (E cubic millimetres per minute):(a) Spherical particles:Using spreadsheets based on the equations, erosion rate was continuously adjusted from its initial value in response to nonlinear and progressive reduction in particle surface area during digestion. Then, for a given digestibility, the particle dimensions required to deliver the time-dependent proportions of nutritionally distinct carbohydrate fractions, rapidly digested, slowly digested and inaccessible digestible starch, could be determined. The results were confirmed by in vitro digestion.The glycaemic impact of starch may potentially be manipulated using the relationship between time, digestibility and particle dimensions, by delivering it in the form of solid food particles whose rates of digestion depend on surface area predetermined by their geometry.

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