29.There are other provisions in the Treaties which also constitute ‘passerelles’ or ‘ratchet clauses’, but do not enable the transfer of power or competence from the UK to the EU. There is no one agreed definition of what constitutes a ‘ratchet clause’ in the Treaties. Some of these provisions provide for a specified modification of the Treaties without using the Treaties’ Ordinary Revision Procedure, such as Article 81(3) TFEU, allowing for a move from unanimity to qualified majority voting in respect of specific areas of family law with cross-border implications. Some other provisions are in effect one-way options, which EU Member States can together decide to exercise and which allow existing EU powers to expand within the scope of the competence already defined in the Treaties, such as Article 262 TFEU, allowing for an expansion of the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) in relation to disputes concerning European intellectual property rights.
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