European law
Member States of the European Union are obliged to apply European law: Treaties, regulations, directives or decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
General principles of EU law
Like French law, European law is hierarchical.
- The Treaties form the primary law and are at the top of the EU hierarchy of standards. All acts adopted by the European institutions are necessarily adopted under the Treaties.
- The external agreements are agreements concluded between the European Union and third countries, regional groups or international organisations. Under the Treaties, external agreements must respect the Treaties but prevail over acts of secondary law.
- Secondary legislation the legislative acts adopted by the European institutions in the exercise of the powers provided for in the Treaties. There are two categories of acts:
Binding acts
The binding acts create a legal obligation for all recipients. They come in various forms:
– The Regulation: general scope (mandatory in all its elements), directly applicable (no transposition), direct effect (creation of rights and obligations in States)
– The Directive: the Member States, impose results to be achieved but leave the freedom of the means to the States, the need for transposition into national law within a fixed time limit, in general of two years (in case of exceeding there is a breach which can lead to a sanction).
Non-binding acts
The non-binding acts - do not create legal obligations and are essentially of political value, expressing the position of the institutions on a given problem. These are the recommendations and Opinion.
4. The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU): all the decisions delivered by the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance enable European law to be clarified and enforced. They are also an essential source of law for the functioning and development of the European Union.
Documentation on European law and the European Union available on our premises.
Hierarchy of standards
European standards are prioritized and divided into four categories: primary law, international agreements, secondary law and case law.
EU founding treaties
EU accession treaties
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
General principles of law established by the EU Court of Justice (Priority of European law, respect for the rule of law principle of non-discrimination...)
We talk about primary law.
EU international agreements :
– Association agreements (e.g. with African States)
– Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA)
– Trade agreements (ex: EU-US...)
Regulations, directives and decisions (binding legal acts)
Recommendations and opinions (non-binding legal acts)
We're talking secondary law.
Decisions of the EU Court of Justice (Court and Court of First Instance) to inform and monitor compliance with European law.
We're talking about jurisprudence.
