Basics of the European Union

Abstract

The law of the European Community, or the acquis communautaire, consists of three types of legislation. Firstly, there is primary legislation, written down in Treaties. (Treaty of Rome (1957) amended by the Single European Act (1987), the Treaty on European Union - ‘Maastricht Treaty’ (1992), the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2002). These are to be ratified by the Member States’ national parliaments. They have direct effect⁵ (unmittelbare Wirkung), meaning that this supra-national law becomes legislation that is to be applied before national courts by national judges.

The direct effect doctrine is developed by standing jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. Chapter 4 gives more details on this doctrine. (see section 4.2.1, page 84)