European Law

International treaties form a source of law where the UK is a contracting party. The treaties become incorporated by ratification through statute. European Community law became incorporated into English law by the European Communities Act 1972 which incorporated the Treaty of Rome.

The Articles of the Treaty of Rome and those of subsequent treaties form the basis of EC law. In addition laws are created through combinations of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of Ministers. The Commission tends to be the organisation that initiates legislation but the real decision making is made by the Council of Ministers which consists of ministers from the contracting states. The European Parliament is also involved in the decision making process but to a lesser degree.

The main laws created are Regulations, Directives and Decisions.

·         Regulations are binding on all Member States.

·         Directives are binding on the Member States to whom directed but the Member State has discretion as to how to implement the Directive in its own law.

·         Decisions are binding on those to whom they are directed.

The discretion that Member States have in implementing Directives has led to actions against states for damages resulting from a failure to implement a Directive within the requisite time or in a correct manner.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld this principle of State liability in the case of Francovich[1]. The English Courts have also circumvented the problem of Directives not being properly implemented by interpreting statutes so as to conform with the Directive in question.

Indeed following the ECJ's decision in Factortame[2] the English Courts can grant injunctions against enforcement of Acts of Parliament where that Act may not conform with EC law.