The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages is an agency of the European Union that has a branch in each member state and has a sub-committee in each linguistic region. The Cornish sub-committee was established in 1995 in response to the demands of the bureau, even though a Cornish representative has attended the United Kingdom committee meetings for more then ten years.

There are fifteen group members that are language organisations or use Cornish in some way, as well as seven council members: Cornwall Council and the six district authorities. In addition to those members, there are seats for the CoBER, Council for the Isles of Scilly, and representatives of the town and parish councils. Following what is done in Scotland, radio and TV companies have been invited to be members, because of the medias duty under the European Charter for Regional Languages, and it would be good to open the channels between the media and the language movement.

The sub-committee's business is, above all, about advancing the language within the United Kingdom and Europe. However, because of the unique debate among the groups that support and make use of the language, there are other matters that are debated which are not 'European': the Cornish Language strategy, for example. There is no vote, everything is decided by agreement.

The sub-committee meets twice a year (February & September) and holds BGMs every two years in order to choose officers and conduct other business.