The European Community (EC) was founded through its treaties.
These are the primary source of Community Law. All other sources of
Community Law are secondary or derived. They originate from powers
conferred on the institutions by the treaties, and quote the
relevant article(s) on which they are based in the pre-amble.
Regulations have general application throughout
the whole community. They are binding in their entirety and
directly applicable in each member state.
Directives are binding as to the results required,
but they leave it instead to the national authorities of each
member state to choose the forms and means to achieve those
results. In the UK this is usually by means of an Act of Parliament
or a SI.
However a member state may not necessarily implement all the
terms in a Directive providing it obtains a
Derogation from the EC. Derogations will only be
considered where the Directive concerned allows for a derogation to
be made. For example, until November 2008 the UK currently holds an
‘extended’ derogation which allows pleasure craft to
continue to use rebated fuel.
All Regulations and Directives made by the EC are published in
the Official Journal. Details of existing EC Legislation may be
found on the internet via the gateway to the European Union
www.europa.eu and by selecting ‘documents’,
‘European Law’ and then by searching Eur-Lex. Details
of selected EC Legislation may also be found in either the Customs
‘Red’ or the Excise ‘Blue’ Books published
by LexusNexis Tolley.
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
(This text has been withheld because of exemptions in the
Freedom of Information Act 2000)
