4 ms·
There is no 'EU law', there are various levels of different EU policy documents. Directives should be implemented (somehow) in the member states legislatures, b
by thingie 15y ago
There is no 'EU law', there are various levels of different EU policy documents. Directives should be implemented (somehow) in the member states legislatures, but it's not that unusual that they are not met within the deadline (or even in a way that was intended). It's an obligation for the governments, who are bound by the EU treaties, not the citizens and businesses (though in theory, you can sue your government for not complying, if it hurts you somehow, but the european court is still just an international treaty). Law is something that directly binds everyone in the given country, EU directive is not a law as such.
It'd be nice if at least someone could tell the difference here. (Especially when he is writing an article about it.)
- roel_v 15y agoI have no idea why you're being downvoted, except for maybe someone thinking 'why would the distinction matter'. Well it does, quite a lot, and you're right that the member states not having implemented some directive is an absolute non-issue.
- rmc 15y agoThere is no 'EU law' Pedantically, The EU has 'Regulations' that become law immediatly in all member states. (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_(European_Union) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_(European_Union) ). However EU Directives (which this 'cookie law' is), are much more common.
- roel_v 15y agoI find this Wikipedia article misleading and insufficiently nuanced. Regulations are still subject to the Van Gend en Loos criteria for direct effect. I think it's fair to say that EU 'law' is sufficiently different in nature from national 'law', even if EU regulations will usually derogate national law, to (in common usage, e.g. in the media) not talk about 'EU law' exaactly because of the risk of conflating it with the common conception of 'a law'.