The EU member states take decisions on new laws together. But what may be decided at EU level, and which different sorts of rules are there in the EU? In special agreements, also known as the treaties, the EU member states have agreed on fundamental rules for cooperation in the EU.
EU laws and rules are all known as legal instruments. All legal instruments must be associated with an article, a paragraph in the EU treaties or in other legal instruments. In other words, they must have a legal base that indicates that the EU has the right to make decisions in the particular matter concerned. Legal instruments that are adopted by EU legislators, that is the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, are called legislative acts. Legal instruments that for example the European Commission adopts are not legislative acts.
Decisions are taken at EU level on several types of legal instruments which have influence to various degrees. Some of them are binding and have to be followed, whereas others are recommendations. This has to do with which powers the EU has in a particular policy area.
Sometimes, laws are needed that should look the same in all member states. In these cases, the European Commission can propose a regulation.
In other cases, the member states can choose in which way they would like to achieve a goal which has been set at EU level. Then, a directive is more suitable, which is a type of framework legislation. The Commission always has to justify why it has proposed a certain type of legal instrument.
EU legislation on the EU website europa.eu
The fact that decisions are taken “at EU level” may give the impression that the member states do not take part in the decision-making. But the member states are part of the decision-making process which results in new legislation at EU level. Representatives from the governments of the member states participate in meetings of the Council of the European Union, which passes new laws, usually together with the European Parliament. The members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the citizens in each member state.
An EU law that applies in exactly the same way in all EU member states. It starts to apply immediately as soon as it has come into force. Many rules in the area of food or agriculture, for example, are regulations. Regulations are not introduced into Swedish legislation, but sometimes a Swedish law may need to be amended or supplemented to prevent there being a conflict of rules when a regulation starts to apply.
A directive is a law that sets an objective to be achieved, a form of framework legislation. The member states themselves then determine which measures should be taken to enable the objective to be achieved. The member states often have two years in which to implement the directive. In Sweden, the Riksdag passes the laws that are required to achieve the objective. Once Swedish legislation has been adapted to the directive, the Government notifies the European Commission.
Decisions are often specially directed to one or more people, companies or organisations. Therefore, they are best suited to administrative purposes or to implementing laws that are already in existence. Decisions are often used, for example, as part of EU competition legislation and may in that case be applicable for companies. They are binding for those to whom the decisions apply.
Recommendations and opinions are not binding legal instruments. In a recommendation, one EU institution proposes changes for another institution or for the member states. The Council gives the member states, for example, recommendations applying to their economic policy. In an opinion, the EU institutions can give an opinion on a current situation or matter.
A legal instrument that is not binding does not need to be followed by the member states. But it may still have consequences. It may for example be the case that the Court of Justice of the EU uses the instrument to support the interpretation of EU law.
The EU member states are to comply with the rules that they adopt together in the EU's institutions. If a country fails to do this, the Commission can launch infringement proceedings against the country in question. The proceedings consist of several steps, such as contacts between the Commission and the member state's government. In the final instance, the matter may be passed on to the Court of Justice for a decision. If Swedish law conflicts with an EU law, the EU law takes precedence.
The member states are responsible for implementing EU rules, and the Commission is responsible for monitoring this. If Sweden and the other member states fail to follow the EU's rules, the Commission may institute proceedings in the Court of Justice of the EU.
The Commission does not approach the Court of Justice directly, but contacts the Swedish Government and asks questions about whether Sweden has implemented the EU law in the correct way. This is known as the Commission launching infringement proceedings. If the Commission is not satisfied with the Government's answers, it may initiate proceedings against Sweden in the Court of Justice.
About infringement proceedings on the European Commission website
If a national court is in doubt about the interpretation of an EU law, it can request what is known as a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice. When the Court of Justice issues a preliminary ruling, it explains how the EU law should be interpreted.
The national court is then obliged to comply with the Court of Justice's interpretation, but it examines the actual matter at hand independently.
The fundamental rules for EU cooperation are written in agreements - the treaties. The treaties describe what may be decided at EU level and how this shall be done, as well as how the EU institutions shall function.
The EU treaties can be compared to a country's Constitution. All member states have approved the treaties and are obliged to comply with them. The treaties provide the framework for EU cooperation. This means, for example, that legislation can only be adopted at EU level in policy areas in which the EU has exclusive competence to legislate. The treaties also set out which institutions have the power to take decisions and how these decisions are taken.
The government of each member state, the European Parliament or the European Commission may propose amendments to the treaties. For the amendments to come into force, they must be approved by all national parliaments of the member states. The member states have made amendments to the treaties on several occasions. The amendments are made in the form of a treaty amendment. The text of the treaty amendment must always be entered into one of the EU's founding treaties, so that the rule on EU cooperation are collected there.
The latest amendment is the Lisbon Treaty, which started to apply into December 2009. As a result of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council became an EU institution and was to be led by an elected President. This was entered into the Treaty on European Union, which is one of the founding treaties.
For the Riksdag and the other national parliaments, the Lisbon Treaty means that they were given responsibility for subsidiarity checks of certain legislative proposals. The Treaty also extended the European Parliament's role in several areas.
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights describes the freedoms and rights enjoyed by individuals in the EU. These include freedom of religion, opinion and assembly and the right to protection of one's private life and the rights of the child to protection and care.
When Sweden and the other EU member states and the EU institutions apply common EU laws, they must take into account individuals’ rights and freedoms. These rights are collected in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Charter is divided into seven sections and spans a wide range of issues: from prohibition of the death penalty and torture to protection of personal data and the right to education. Anyone who considers that they have been treated in a way that violates the Charter can turn to a court in their own country.
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights should not be confused with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. All EU countries have acceded to the European Convention, and in Sweden it applies in the same way as Swedish law. The EU must also respect the rights that are guaranteed in the European Convention. The idea behind the EU Charter is that it should clarify the fundamental rights in the EU.
The EU Charter has been legally binding for the EU member states and institutions since 1 December 2009. Poland has an exemption in the form of a protocol stating that the Charter may not affect Polish law or interpretation of the law.
