Sources of EU Law
Prof. dr. sc. Tamara Ćapeta
Jean Monnet Chair
Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
2015
Systematization of Sources of EU Law
Primary Law (primarno pravo)
Founding Treaties – TEU, TFEU
(Osnivački ugovori -UEU; UFEU)
General Principles of Law
(Opća načela prava)
Secondary Law (sekundarno pravo )
Acts of EU Institutions
(Akti koje donose institucije EU)
International Agreements
(Međunarodni sporazumi)
Case Law
(Sudska praksa)
Secondary Law –
what can EU decide about?
• Principle of Conferral (načelo dodijeljenih ovlasti)
– EU can decide only about the issues for which the
member States empowered it; each act must have a
legal basis in the Treaties
• Principle of Subsidiarity (načelo supsidijarnosti)
– In areas of shared competences
• Principle of Proportionality (načelo
proporcionalnosti)
– Act should not be more restrictive from what is
necessary for the achievement of regulatory goal
Legal Basis - Pravni temelj
• Treaty provision which confers power to the
EU
• Determines the type of act, the type of
legislative procedure and the role of
institutions
Example: Article 46 TFEU
“The European Parliament and the Council
shall, acting in accordance with the ordinary
legislative procedure and after consulting the
Economic and Social Committee, issue
directives or make regulations setting out the
measures required to bring about freedom of
movement for workers, as defined in Article
45, in particular: (…)”
Legal Acts
• Legally Binding:
– Regulations (Uredbe)
– Directives (Direktive)
– Decisions (Odluke)
• Non-binding:
– Recommendations (Preporuke)
– Opinions (Mišljenja)
Difference Regulation/Directive
Regulation
• Act of general application, binding in its
entirety and directly applicable in Member
States
• Purpose: unification of law
• Prohibition of its transposition into the
sources of domestic law
• Obligation of publication in the OJ
• Preamble
Difference Regulation/Directive
Directives
• Acts binding the Member States to which they are
addressed as to the regulatory result, but leaving to
States choice of form and methods of achieving such
a result
• Purpose: harmonization of law
• Directives always require transposition into national
law (even if they can have direct effects)
• Obligation of publication in the OJ
• Preamble
Učinci pravnih normi EU u državama
članicama – izravni učinak i nadređenost
• Razlika : vertikalni i horizontalni izravni učinak
(Vertical and Horizontal Direct Effect)
• Direktive mogu imati samo vertikalni izravni
učinak
• Neke odredbe Ugovora (npr. Čl. 34. UFEU)
također imaju samo vertikalni izravni učinak
Legal effect of EU legal norms
in the Member States
• All EU legal norms can have direct effect,
under certain conditions
• Difference vertical-horizontal direct effect
• All norms having direct effect prime over
contrary national provisions
• All norms of EU law have interpretative effects