European Community Law

Abstract

The creation of the European Community is realised through the implementation of EC legislation throughout all member states. Likewise, the completion of the Single Market can only be effected by the implementation of legal measures which apply across the whole Community, measures which are adopted at Community level, mostly by the Council of Ministers, and are subsequently implemented in each member state through national legal systems. The European Commission can introduce certain Regulations on its own initiative which are directly binding on member states, but only in limited agreed areas where basic framework laws are already in existence. Over the thirty or so years of its history, the Community has gradually built up a framework of primary legislation. There is also a great body of secondary legislation (see Sources of European Community Law, page 329). In the past, it has sometimes taken the Community many years to agree and adopt new laws. The product liability Directive is a notable example, where protracted intra-Community consultations on the draft Directive were spread over a period of more than ten years. The Single Market programme was introduced to revitalise the process of completing the Community’s internal market by reducing the likelihood of a stalemate in legislative process and by strengthening the political will to achieve the aims of the Community.