European Union Law - Knowledge Base
•
3 likes•2,595 views
The document provides an overview of the sources of European Union law, including treaties, legislation, and case law. It describes the origins and development of the EU from the 1950s, as well as its main institutions like the European Commission, Council, and Court of Justice. The summary also outlines the different types of EU legal acts like regulations and directives, and how to cite them. It explains that case law is produced by the EU courts and published in the Official Court Reports.
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (17)
Similar to European Union Law - Knowledge Base
Similar to European Union Law - Knowledge Base (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
European Union Law - Knowledge Base
- 2. EU Law – Introduction EU law – Introduction The European Union (EU) developed from the three European Communities which were founded in the 1950s: European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). It became the 'European Union' under the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. The ECSC was wound up in 2002 and the EC was subsumed into the European Union in December 2009, but Euratom continues to exist. From the original six member states of the 1950s, the EU has grown to a total of twenty‐ eight member states today. The UK joined in 1973. The EU has its own courts: the Court of Justice, the General Court (formerly the 'Court of First Instance') and the Civil Service Tribunal. Its main legislative and policy‐making bodies are the Council of the European Union (or Council of Ministers), the European Parliament and the European Commission.
- 3. EU Law – Treaties, Legislation & Case Law EU law – Treaties, Legislation & Case Law Every action taken by the EU is founded on the treaties. These binding agreements between EU member countries set out EU objectives, rules for EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its members. Primary Law • Treaties are the starting point for EU law and are known in the EU as primary law. Secondary Law • The body of law that comes from the principles and objectives of the treaties is known as secondary law; and includes regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions. Case Law • Case law is produced by the European Court of Justice (or the ECJ) and the General Court (GC) (formerly the Court of First Instance).
- 4. EU Law ‐ Treaties EU Law ‐ Treaties The main treaties are: • Treaty of Lisbon • Treaty of Nice • Treaty of Amsterdam • Treaty on European Union ‐ Maastricht Treaty • Single European Act • Merger Treaty ‐ Brussels Treaty • Treaties of Rome : EEC and EURATOM treaties • Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community Every action taken by the EU is founded on the treaties and the power structure and fields of action of the EU all derive from the basic treaties. These binding agreements between EU member countries set out EU objectives, rules for EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its members. The power,
- 5. EU Law: Regulations, Directives etc. EU Law ‐ Regulations, Directives etc The aims set out in the EU treaties are achieved by several types of legal act. Some are binding, others are not. Some apply to all EU countries, others to just a few. • Regulations ‐ A "regulation" is a binding legislative act. It must be applied in its entirety across the EU. • Directives ‐ A "directive" is a legislative act that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve. However, it is up to the individual countries to devise their own laws on how to reach these goals. • Decisions – A "decision" is binding on those to whom it is addressed (e.g. an EU country or an individual company) and is directly applicable. • Recommendations ‐ A "recommendation" is not binding. A recommendation allows the institutions to make their views known and to suggest a line of action without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed.
- 6. Regulations & Directives – what citations look like Regulations & Directives – what citations look like From 1 January 2015, the numbering of EU legislation has changed. For all regulations, directives, decisions and recommendations published after this date, the legislation number is cited as: year/number, e.g. Council Regulation (EU) 2015/159 For EU legislation published before this date, the legislation number is cited as follows: • Regulations ‐ the running number precedes the year e.g. Council Regulation (EC) 1984/2003 • Directives ‐ the year precedes the running number e.g. Council Directive 2002/60/EC
- 7. EU Law ‐ Preparatory Acts – COM Docs Preparatory Acts (including COM Docs) These are documents used to prepare EU legislation and include: • Commission legislative proposals • Council positions • Legislative proposals from the European Parliament • Opinions from the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. These contain working documentation of the EU and include reports, communications and draft legislation. Each document is coded by document type, year and serial number. COM documents, often known as 'COM docs', are a series of publications produced by the European Commission for the attention of other EU institutions. They have reference numbers prefixed 'COM' (standing for 'Commission'), e.g. COM (2000) 529. They include numerous different types of publication, such as proposals for legislation, green papers, white papers and reports on the implementation of policy. EUR‐Lex has all COM documents from 1999 onwards, together with selected earlier ones.
- 8. EU Law ‐ Cases Case Law The Court of Justice of the European Union consists of three courts: • Court of Justice, the • General Court (created in 1988) • Civil Service Tribunal (created in 2004) The Court constitutes the judicial authority of the European Union and, in cooperation with the courts and tribunals of the Member States, ensures the application and uniform interpretation of European Union law. Want to know more? You can access and download the Court of Justice Case‐law information brochure. Click on the book jacket to access This is one of a number of information brochures available from the Court of Justice on the composition, functions and history of the Court of Justice: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7004/en/
- 10. EU Law : Case citations EU Case Law – what case citations look like Case numbers When cases are referred to the European Court they are given a case number. This consists of a running number allocated by the court, and the year the case was registered. After the creation of the Court of First Instance in 1989, the letter C was added in front of case numbers for EUCJ cases and T was added before case numbers for CFI (now GC) cases, for example: C‐251/88 Re VAT on Telecommunications: EC Commission v Germany, The Case number is very useful when searching online databases such as Eurlex and Westlaw. It can also be used to search the indexes to the European Court Reports and Common Market Law Reports.
- 11. EU Case citations – European Case Law Identifier EU Case Law – what case citations look like In 2014, the EU introduced the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) to make it easier to identify and locate cases. The ECLI is composed of a number for each judgment that identifies the originating jurisdiction, the code of the court that rendered the judgment, the year of the judgment and its number. Each component is separated by a colon. Case Number Name of Case Year Report & Volume First Page Pinpoint Case 152/84 Marshall v Area Health Authority [1986] ECR 723, paras 26‐27 Case C‐ 106/89 Marleasing [1990] ECR I‐ 4135 Case T‐344/99 Arne Mathiesen AS v Council [2002] ECR II‐ 2905 Case C‐ 542/09 Commission v the Netherlands EU:C:2012:346 Case C‐40/11 Yoshikazu Iida v Stadt Ulm EU:C:2013:691, para 72
- 14. EU Case Law – CURIA (European Court of Justice) database Click on the links to find the most recent judgments and opinions of each Court Search for cases – you can search by court, by Case number, Party names and dates The CURIA database includes the full text of judgments, opinions of the Court, Advocate General's opinions and orders of the EU courts. You can search the database by case number, date, name of the parties, reference words in the text, etc. It also contains summaries of decisions, information on decisions which have not been published in the court reports and notices in the Official Journal of the European Union. Case law since 17/06/1997 is accessible on the CURIA database on the court's website.
- 15. Westlaw UK – EU materials Other Sources of EU Law – Westlaw UK • primary legislation from 1951 onwards • secondary legislation 1952 onwards • case law from 1954 onwards EU Law service provides access to the primary legislation that constitutes the legal framework of the European Community, as well as secondary legislation, case law and national measures to see how they’re put into practice. All accessible from the “EU” search screen
- 16. Westlaw UK – EU Materials Westlaw UK have created some guides to effectively use EU Materials on the database. The interactive eLearning Module lasts just over 3 minutes, but is broken down into various chapters and you can just select the particular thing you want to know about. Click on the image to access. Other useful guides • Westlaw Search Userguide [PDF] ‐ General guide to searching Westlaw UK • Westlaw Userguide [PDF] ‐ General guide to using Westlaw UK. Information on cases begins on page 29 of this document Watch and Learn
- 17. LexisLibrary – EU Materials LexisLibrary To access EU materials on LexisLibrary – click on Legislation or Cases menu tabs at the top of the screen. Then click on International Legislation or International Cases and then using the Sources drop – down box – select EU options. Step1 Step 2 Step 3
- 19. EU Law – ABC of Eurpean Union Law EU Law – want to know more? ABC of European Union Law by by Professor Klaus‐Dieter Borchardt Click on book cover image to download