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Acts

Legislative base The relevant institution, so empowered by the Treaty, may choose the releveant mode for an

instrument, unless the Treaty specifies that a particular mode must be used.

Art 249 EC Treaty : “In order to carry out their task and in accordance with the provisions of

the Treaty, the European Parliament acting jointly with the Council, the Council and the

Commission, shall make regulations, issue directives, take decisions, make recommendations or

deliver opinions.”

Regulations

Regulations are the most important derived source of Community law in that they are the

chosen form when legislating for the whole Community, without going through any national

channels.

It is defined as “having general application, binding in its entirety and directly applicable

in all Member States” – art. 249 para 2 - EC Treaty.

The EC Regulation is an agreement with general application, made by an international

body, the European Community and for the regulation to be incorporated into the national system of

law, implementing legislation would have to be enacted by the national legislature. This would be

very hard, because the Community system would very quickly grind to a halt if a regulation had to

be incorporated into the national law of each 25 Member States.

Regulations, especially in some areas as agricultural policy require a speedy implementation

in order to have the wanted effect and they would lose their purpose if the Community had to await

for incorporation in each Membet State. It is for this reason that the EC Treaty provides that a

regulation shall be directly applicable, meaning that it is automaticallyy incorporated into the

national law.

The regulations are binding on anyone falling within rheir terms in all Member States and

they do not require further action, being applicable by the courts asa soon as they become operative.

Article 254 provides that all regulations must be published in the Official Journal. In the Fruit&Vegetables case (Joined Cases 16-17/62) the court stated that “a regulation, being essentially

of a legislative nature, is applicable not to a limited number of persons, defined or identifiable, but to categories of

persons viewed abstractly and in their entirety”


Directives

The directive differs from a regulation in that it applies only to those Member States to

whom it is addressed, but it can have a certain part where is presented an option with the

specification: compulsory for all States Members.

A directive sets out the result to be achieved, but leaves some choice to each Member State

as to the form and method of achieving the final result. It will quite often provide a Member State

with a range of options it can choose from when implementing the measure.

A directive is not directly applicable. It requires each Member State to incorporate the

directive in order to be given effcect in the national legal system.

Although the form may differ between Member States, allowing for national traditions, the

obligation remains the same. Every directive specifies a time period, which is usually two years,

by which time the Member State should have achieved the result required.

If it has not done so, an individual may seek to enforce in his national corts any rights given

under the directive (148/78).

Art 254 EC Treaty provides that directives which are adopted in accordance with the

legislative procedure prescribed by art 251 (the co-decision procedure) must (like all regulations) be

published in the Official Journal. Such directives shall come into force on the date specified in the

directive or, if no date is specified, 20 days after the publication

All the directives which do not need to be published in thw Official Journal must be

communicated to the Member States to whom they are addressed and will take effect on the date of

communication.

Decisions The Decision is addressed to specific Member States, individuals or companies and are

binding in their entirety upon those to whom they are addressed – art 249 EC Treaty.

Art 254(3) provides that a decision must be notified to the person or Member States to

whom it is addressed and that it will take efect upon such notification. However, if a decision is

adopted using the legislative procedure prescribed by art. 251 (co-decision) the decision must be

published in the Official Journal, and it will take effect either on the date specified in the decision

or, if there is no such date specified, on the twentieth day following the publication.


Recommendations and opinions

Art 249 EC Treaty is quite clear that recommendations and opinions shall not have any

binding force. However the use of these two instruments may be usefull to clarify matters in a

formal way

Art. 211 EC Treaty empowers tha Commission to formulate recommendations or deliver

opinions on matters presented with in the Treaty, not only where expressly provided for, but also

whenever it considers it necessary.

Although those acts have no immediate legal force, they may achieve some legal effect as

persuasive authority, if they are subsequently referred to, and taken noticeof, in a decision of the

Court of Justice (Ex: Case: Grimaldi v Fonds des Maladies Professinelles)

Documents

C_Acts