European Union law Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The European Union is unique among international organizations in having a complex and highly developed system of internal law which has direct effect within the legal systems of its member states. Unlike other bodies of international law, it is generally recognized that European Union law overrides the national laws of its member states.There are three sources of Union law:
- primary legislation: the treaties
- secondary legislation: regulationss, directivess, decisions, recommendations and opinions made by the Union's institutions in accordance with the treaties
- decisions of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
| Table of contents |
|
2 Secondary legislation 3 Legislative procedures 4 Acquis 5 Specific topics in EU law 6 External links |
Secondary legislation include regulationss, directivess, decisions, recommendations and opinions.
Secondary legislation also includes interinstitutional agreements, which are agreements made between European Union institutions clarifying their respective powers, especially in budgetary matters. The Parliament, Commission and Council are capable of entering into such agreements.
The classification of legislative acts varies among the First, Second and Third Pillars.
In the case of the first pillar: Secondary legislation is classified based on to whom it is directed, and how it is to be implemented. Regulations and directives bind everyone, while decisions only affect the parties to whom they are addressed (which can be individuals, corporations, or member states). Regulations have direct effect, i.e. they are binding in and of themselves as part of national law, while directives require implementation by national legislation to be effective. However, states that fail or refuse to implement directives as part of national law can be fined by the European Court of Justice.
Directives and regulations can comprise of a mixture of maximum harmonisation and minimum harmonisation clauses, and can be enforced on either a home state or a host state basis
All EU legislation must be based on a specific treaty article, which is referred to as the
"legal basis" of the legislation.
The European Convention's Working Group on Simplification, identified in total 15 legal instruments of the European Union. These, divided in the three pillars of the European Union are the following:
Primary legislation: the treaties
The primary legislation, or treaties, are effectively the constitutional law of the European Union. They lay down the basic policies of the Union, establish its institutional structure, legislative procedures, and the powers of the Union. The treaties that make up the primary legislation include:
The various annexes and protocols attached to these treaties are also considered a source of primary legislation.Secondary legislation
| Community Pillar | Common Foreign and Security Policy | Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regulations Directives Decisions Conventions | Principles and general guidelines Common strategies Joint actions Common positions Decisions | Common positions Framework decisions Decisions Conventions |
| Common: | Recommendations, Opinions | |
If the planned European Constitution is ratified, these acts will be reduced to only six: EU laws, EU framework laws, decisions, regulations, recommendations and opinions.
There are three main legislative procedures in the European Union, with the main difference between them being how the European Parliament interacts with the Council of the European Union.
The whole body of EU law is together called the acquis communautaire, broken into 32 chapters for purposes of accession negotiations.
This is an Article on European Union law. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About European Union law Legislative procedures
Acquis
Specific topics in EU law
External links