EU law Flashcards
European commission - institution of the EU
Made up of one commissioner from each member state (27)
Must act independently of their national state
Responsible for upholding the general interest of the Union
Each commissioner appointed for a 5 year term
Each commissioner head department with special responsibility of Union policy
Draft and put forward proposals for new law to be adopted by parliament and council
EU commission is the guardian of treaties and ensures treaty provisions are properly implemented
Responsible for administration and supervise budgets
European parliament - institution of the EU
Parliament member are elected by member states every 5 years with the number of MEPs reflecting member states population size
705 members
Plenary sessions - attended by all members
Power to reject or adopt budgets
Meet about once a month for sessions that last up to a week
Has a standing committee which discusses proposals made by the commission
Decides on international agreements whether to admit new member states and reviews the commission work programme
Council of the EU - institution of the EU
The principal law making and decision making body
Amends, negotiates and adopts laws with the parliaments based on suggestions from the commission
Act as the voice of Member states’ government
2 times a year heads of member states’ meet in a summit
Ministers have authority to commit their governments to the actions agree
The government of each member state sends a representative to sit on the council, who attends depends on the agenda - if budgetary send the finance minister
Member states take turns to provide a president for the council for a 6 month period
Decisions usually require majority of 55% to pass
The court of justice of the EU - institution of the EU
Judges are appointed from the highest judicial posts in member states or who are leading academic lawyers
Each judge is appointed for a 6 year term and can be re-appointed for another 6 years
The court sits in Luxembourg and has 1 judge from each member state
Can take action in CJEU - indirectly (national courts refer case), or directly
Court’s function is to ensure that interpretation and application of treaties observe the law =
Courts function done by hearing cases about whether a member state has failed to fulfil its obligations/ hearing cases from national courts for preliminary rulings on points of EU law
Preliminary rulings (article 19) - courts stop proceedings to ask CJEU a question
Sources of EU law - treaties, regulations and directives
Treaties - Primary source of legislation that affects all member states
Directly applicable
Direct affect (horizontal and vertical)
- Example = Treaty of Rome 1957, established the common market
Regulations - form of secondary legislation that applies to all member states in same way as treaties
Directly applicable
Direct affect (horizontal and vertical)
- Example = unfair terms in consumer contracts regulations 1994, Re Tachographs; commission v UK
Directives - form of secondary legislation that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve in a time frame
- member states must write their own laws to achieve the goal
Not directly applicable
No horizontal direct affect (Duke v GEC)
Vertical direct affect when member states fails to implement
- Example = the consumer rights directive
Supremacy of EU law
EU law takes precedence over the national law of every member state - first established in Van Gend en Loos 1963 (no member states can rely on its own law if it’s in conflict with EU law)
Direct affect - impacts of EU law
A EU law that an individual can rely on as authority for their case
Applies for law in treaties and regulations - established in Van Gend en Loos 1963
Under EU law member states have to implement EU directives into their own legislation - if they fail within time limit, have breached obligation
A claimant can sue their member state for damages for failing to implement the directive (Frankovich v Italian Republic)
Types of Direct affect - impacts of EU law
Vertical direct effect - is when the individual can claim against an emanation of a state when a directive hasn’t been implemented (Marshall v Southampton health authority)
Horizontal direct effect - an individual can rely on the law to claim against another individual or business
- Duke v GEC reliance, claimant can’t rely on directive as other party was a private business
Indirect effect - where a member state has failed to implement a directive either correctly or not at all
