E.U. Law_Course 3_Introduction in E.U.

Law
Definition
European Union law is the unique legal system which operates alongside the laws of member states
of the European Union (EU), it is an ensemble of legal rules.
As a definition, the European Union Law includes all legal rules applicable within the European Union
legal order which regulate the organization and the functioning of the institutions, as well as the
specific rules that must be applied in the different fields of economic activity provided by the treaties.
The Community Law, now the European Union Law, has become a specific instrument for the
achievement of the European integration.
Concerning the definition of the European Union Law, we should mention that in the Van Gend and
Loos Case, Case no. 26/1962, the Court of Justice of the European Union has stated the legal nature
of the European Communities, providing that they constitute a new legal order of international law,
for whose benefits the States have limited their sovereign rights, (), and the subjects of which
comprise not only Member States, but also their nationals. In the same way, in Costa v. ENEL Case,
Case no. 6/1964, the Court of Justice had developed its reasoning, providing that the Community Law
constitutes a new legal order which () became an integral part of the legal systems of Member
States and which their courts are bound to apply.
The European Union legal order is characterized by autonomy, meaning that it constitutes a legal
system which is different from the international legal order and the national legal systems of Member
States.
In the same time, the European Union Law must not be conceived as an exterior system of law
because it is integrated, it is an integral part of the national legal system of each Member State.
Therefore, the European Union Law must be applied on the territory of each Member State as its own
national law.
The European Union Law includes mainly the following legal rules:
1. all legal rules contained in the founding Treaties, the revision Treaties as well as the treaties of
accession of new Member States;
2. all legal rules contained in the secondary legislation, meaning the acts adopted by the institutions
within the application of the treaties.

In a wider meaning, the European Union Law also includes the written and even unwritten rules that
are applicable within the European legal system, such as the general principles of law belonging to the
national legal systems of Member States, the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union,
the rules related to the external relations of the European Union or the complementary rules contained
for example in the internal rules of procedure of the institutions.
Classification of European legal rules
a) by source:
1. primary law (created by the founding Treaties together with the international treaties

and

protocols)
2. secondary law (that contains the normative acts issued by the institutions)
b) by content
1. institutional law (regards the institutions organization, their powers and the internal and external
relations)
2. material law (regarding the rules applicable in well defined, by the treaties, areas)
Competence
The European Communities competences are provided by the founding Treaties and they are distinct
from the International Organizations ones.
We speak about twos kinds of competences: first of control and action and second of international and
national ones.
a) the general capacity of the Communities to control how the states respect their obligations (see the
European Commissions duty to control the application of the E.U. Law by the states as Guardian of
the Treaties )
b) the most important competence is to act for the fulfillment of the goals specially created for them.
c) the international competence is the right of the Communities to be informed and asked to verify
before adopting some internal measures
d) the Member States preserve their sovereign rights in issues not in the Communities competence.