EU law

Strictly speaking, EU law consists of the founding Treaties (primary legislation) and the legal acts that the European institutions adopt, which enables the EU to exercise its powers (secondary legislation: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions).

In a broader sense, EU law encompasses all the rules of the EU legal order, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights (since the Treaty of Lisbon) and the general principles established by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

International agreements with non-EU countries or with international organisations are also an integral part of EU law. These agreements are separate from primary law and secondary legislation and form a sui generis category. According to some judgments of the CJEU, they can have direct effect and their legal force is superior to secondary legislation, which must therefore comply with them.

SEE ALSO

• Acquis
• Treaties
• Charter of Fundamental Rights
• Court of Justice of the European Union
• European legal instruments
• European Union hierarchy of norms
• Monitoring the application of EU law
• The European Union’s primary law (summary)
• Secondary legislation (summary)
• European Union regulations (summary)
• European Union directive (summary)
• European Union decisions (summary)
• International conventions and agreements of the EU (summary)
• The direct effect of European law (summary)
• EU law on European Union portal (summary)