EU Law Compliance Quiz

Sources of EU Law - Secondary Law

• Secondary EU law is subordinate to primary EU law
• Secondary law is the second level of the EU's normative system
• EU secondary law consists of acts enacted by EU institutions
• These acts are within the limits of the powers and competences granted by the Treaties
• The acts must be in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Treaties
• Secondary law derives its authority from the Treaties

Preliminary Classifications

• Codified acts (Article 288 TFEU) vs. absolute (mentioned in other Treaty provisions) and relative (no reference in Treaties) acts
• Binding acts vs. non-binding acts
• Legislative acts (Article 289 TFEU) vs. non-legislative acts
• Main acts vs. delegated and implementing acts (Articles 290-291 TFEU)

Common Features of EU Secondary Law

• Duty to state reasons (Article 296 TFEU): Enacting institutions are required to justify their actions
• Enacting institutions must indicate the legal basis (principle of conferral)
• The proposal and any opinions or approvals must be included as part of the act
• Legislative acts (always) and non-legislative acts that don't specify their recipients are published in the EU Official Journal
• Non-legislative acts explicitly addressed to individuals are sent/notified to the recipients
• No retroactive effects (general principles of legal certainty and legitimate expectations) are allowed

Duty to State Reasons

• Mandatory for all binding acts with no exceptions (Article 296 TFEU)
• Compliance involves clarifying the factual and legal backing for the initiative
• Implementation follows general principles, such as the use of recitals (preambles) as detailed explanations of the act
• An insufficient/inadequate statement of reasons can lead to act annulment (Article 263 TFEU) and/or declaration of invalidity (Article 267 TFEU)

How Statements of Reasons Look (Recitals)

• Example of a Directive (2014/104/EU) is provided in the slides
  • The examples illustrate the typical structure of a legislative act as a statement of reasons, including various clauses (e.g., regard to the Treaty, the Proposal, opinions, the legislative procedure)
• Different examples, including various articles, are shown throughout the presentation to illustrate the structure of recitals of statements of reasons

Legal Basis

• Acts are referenced to one or more Treaty provisions to support their adoption
• The legal basis purpose include designating the institution's competencies, the competences of the EU (general) and the institution (internal) and the procedural requirements
• The choice of legal basis depends on objective criteria, open to judicial review (focuses on the act's purpose and content)

Codified Acts of EU Secondary Law

• Regulations: Have general application, are binding in their entirety, and are directly applicable in all Member States
• Directives: Binding on Member States in achieving a stated result, but not in how this is achieved; implementation details set by national authorities.
• Decisions: Have binding force, but only for addressees specified in them
• Recommendations and Opinions: Have no binding force.

Regulations

• Have general applicability meaning they apply to abstract categories of recipients rather than a specific number of participants
• Directly applicable, they enter into national legal systems without needing any further local act of implementation
• They are entirely binding-meaning the Member States are obligated to implement them completely upon adoption

General Scope (of Regulations)

• Regulations apply to objectively determined situations in a general and abstract manner
• The qualification of an act as a regulation is not inhibited if the recipients can be determined with precision, as long as the recipient quality is derived from an objective situation defined by the act
• The fact that a rule might have different effects for different recipients does not negate its character as a regulation

Direct Applicability

• Regulations' effects are produced directly in a national legal system, without any domestic adaption
• This avoids the need for any adaptation and/or transposition activity at the national level
• National legislation contradicting a directly applicable regulation is prohibited

Directives

• Do not have general scope, unlike regulations; they are binding only on the Member State or States to which they are addressed
• Directives bind Member States as to the result to be achieved but allow the authorities to choose implementation methods
• Directives' implementation often requires an initial preparatory phase at the EU level followed by harmonising actions at national levels
• No direct effects - the effects of a directive are subject to implementation by Member States before they can be directly invoked in national legal systems; exception in cases of imperfect (or non-) transposition

Duty to Transpose

• Member States must adapt/transpose Directives within a set timeframe (usually 2 years)
• Failure to meet the prescribed deadline does not automatically result in EU law breach before this timeframe has finished
• There is a duty from the member state to ensure that the decision-making process doesn't put the result of the directive at risk.

Decisions

• Decisions typically have a specific, limited scope (i.e., they target particular individuals)
• They create legally binding effects against their designated recipients after publication
• Decisions can cover both Member States and individuals

Codified Acts Not Binding

• Recommendations: Do not impose any binding obligations, merely serve as guidance or suggestions
• Opinions: Serve as expressions of views on policy, not as binding instructions for action

Non-Standard Acts (Codified)

• A wide variety of non-standard acts exist, sometimes binding, not explicitly contemplated under treaties but arise/exist in practice
• These can comprise: internal regulations, general programs, decisions regarding budgetary issues and preparatory acts.

Test your understanding of community regulations and the obligations of member states within the European Union. This quiz covers the requirements for implementing community law, the consequences of non-compliance, and the principles guiding EU regulations. Challenge yourself to ensure you're well-versed in EU legal frameworks!