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What are EU regulations?
Regulations are the most direct form of EU law - as soon as they are passed, they have binding legal force throughout every Member State, on a par with national laws. National governments do not have to take action themselves to implement EU regulations.
They are different from directives, which are addressed to national authorities, who must then take action to make them part of national law, and decisions, which apply in specific cases only, involving particular authorities or individuals.
Regulations are passed either jointly by the EU Council and European Parliament, and by the Commission alone.
What are EU directives?
EU directives lay down certain end results that must be achieved in every Member State. National authorities have to adapt their laws to meet these goals, but are free to decide how to do so. Directives may concern one or more Member States, or all of them.
Each directive specifies the date by which the national laws must be adapted - giving national authorities the room for manoeuvre within the deadlines necessary to take account of differing national situations.
Directives are used to bring different national laws into line with each other, and are particularly common in matters affecting the operation of the single market (e.g. product safety standards).
What are EU decisions?
Decisions are EU laws relating to specific cases. They can come from the EU Council (sometimes jointly with the European Parliament) or the Commission.
They can require authorities and individuals in Member States either do something or stop doing something, and can also confer rights on them.
EU decisions are:
• addressed to specific parties (unlike regulations),
• fully binding.
The Commission's role
The Commission's role is to ensure EU law is properly applied - by individuals, national authorities and other EU institutions.
The Commission can impose sanctions on individuals or companies who break EU law. It can take formal action against national authorities if they are suspected of doing the same, asking them to remedy the situation by a certain date. This may involve taking them to the European Court of Justice.
TEXT 3. TREATIES
The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that everything that it does is derived from treaties, which are agreed on voluntarily and democratically by all Member States. Previously signed treaties have been changed and updated to keep up with developments in society.
The main treaties are the following:
Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community which was signed on 18 April 1951 in Paris entered into force on 23 July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002.
Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), signed in Rome on 25 March 1957, and entered into force on 1 January 1958. The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was signed at the same time and the two are therefore jointly known as the Treaties of Rome.
Merger Treaty: signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965 and in force since 1 July 1967, which provided for a Single Commission and a Single Council of the three European Communities.
Single European Act (SEA) signed in Luxembourg and the Hague, entered into force on 1 July 1987, provided for the adaptations required for the achievement of the Internal Market.
Treaty on European Union which was signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, entered into force on 1 November 1993. The Maastricht Treaty changed the name of the European Economic Community to simply "the European Community". It also introduced new forms of co-operation between the Member State governments - for example on defence, and in the area of "justice and home affairs". By adding this inter-governmental co-operation to the existing "Community" system, the Maastricht Treaty created a new structure with three "pillars" which is political as well economic. This is the European Union (EU).
Treaty of Amsterdam: signed on 2 October 1997, entered into force on 1 May 1999. It amended and renumbered the EU and EC Treaties. Consolidated versions of the EU and EC Treaties are attached to it. The Treaty of Amsterdam changed the articles of the Treaty on European Union, identified by letters A to S, into numerical form.
Treaty of Nice: signed on 26 February 2001, entered into force on 1 February 2003. It dealt mostly with reforming the institutions so that the Union could function efficiently after its enlargement to 25 Member States. The Treaty of Nice, the former Treaty of the EU and the Treaty of the EC have been merged into one consolidated version.
Treaty of Lisbon: was signed on 13 December 2007 and entered into force on 1 December 2009. Its main objectives are to make the EU more democratic, meeting the European citizens’ expectations for high standards of accountability, openness, transparency and participation; and to make the EU more efficient and able to tackle today's global challenges such as climate change, security and sustainable development.
The agreement on the Treaty of Lisbon followed the discussion about a constitution. A "Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe" was adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Brussels European Council on 17 and 18 June 2004 and signed in Rome on 29 October 2004, but it was never ratified.
Moreover, the founding treaties have been amended on several occasions, in particular when new Member States acceded in 1973 (Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom), 1981 (Greece), 1986 (Spain, Portugal), 1995 (Austria, Finland, Sweden) and 2004 (the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia).
Based on the Treaties, EU institutions can adopt legislation, which is then implemented by the Member States.