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Directive (European Union)

A directive is a legal act of the European Union [ 1 ] which requires member states to achieve particular goals without dictating how the member states achieve those goals. A di...

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A directive is a legal act of the European Union[1] which requires member states to achieve particular goals without dictating how the member states achieve those goals. A directive's goals have to be made the goals of one or more new or changed national laws by the member states before this legislation applies to individuals residing in the member states.[2] Directives normally leave member states with a certain amount of leeway as to the exact rules to be adopted. Directives can be adopted by means of a variety of legislative procedures depending on their subject matter.

The text of a draft directive (if subject to the co-decision process, as contentious matters usually are) is prepared by the Commission after consultation with its own and national experts. The draft is presented to the Parliament and the Council—composed of relevant ministers of member governments, initially for evaluation and comment and then subsequently for approval or rejection.

Justifications

Directives commence with a preamble and a number of recitals which provide treaty contexts, references to other relevant legislation, and principles seen as justifying the terms of the directive.[3]

There are justifications for using a directive rather than a regulation: (i) it complies with the EU's desire for "subsidiarity"; (ii) it acknowledges that different member States have different legal systems, legal traditions and legal processes; and (iii) each Member State has leeway to choose its own statutory wording, rather than accepting the Brussels' official "Eurospeak" terminology. For example, while EU Directive 2009/20/EC (which simply requires all vessels visiting EU ports to have P&I cover) could have been a regulation (without requiring member states to implement the directive), the desire for subsidiarity was paramount, so a directive was the chosen vehicle.[4]

The legal basis for the enactment of directives is Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly Article 249 TEC).

Article 288

To exercise the Union's competences, the institutions shall adopt regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions.

A regulation shall have general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

A directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods.

A decision shall be binding in its entirety upon those to whom it is addressed.

Recommendations and opinions shall have no binding force.

The Council can delegate legislative authority to the Commission and, depending on the area and the appropriate legislative procedure, both institutions can seek to make laws.[5] There are Council directives and Commission directives. Article 288 does not clearly distinguish between legislative acts and administrative acts, as is normally done in national legal systems.[6]

Directives are binding only on the member states to whom they are addressed, which can be just one member state or a group of them. In general, however, with the exception of directives related to the Common Agricultural Policy, directives are addressed to all member states.

Implementation

When adopted, directives give member states a timetable for the implementation of the intended outcome. Occasionally, the laws of a member state may already comply with this outcome, and the state involved would be required only to keep its laws in place. More commonly, member states are required to make changes to their laws (commonly referred to as transposition) in order for the directive to be implemented correctly. This is done in approximately 99% of the cases.[7] If a member state fails to pass the required national legislation, or if the national legislation does not adequately comply with the requirements of the directive, the European Commission may initiate legal action against the member state in the European Court of Justice. This may also happen when a member state has transposed a directive in theory but has failed to abide by its provisions in practice.

If a Member State fails to implement a Directive timely or correctly, the Directive itself becomes binding on the Member States, meaning that parties in proceedings against the state may rely on provisions of the untimely or incorrectly transposed Directive. An example of a case in which the applicant was able to invoke the provisions of an untimely transposed Directive is the Verkooijen case, in which the European Court of Justice rendered a judgement on 6 June 2000 (case no. C-35/98).

El Reino Unido aprobó un instrumento legal (SI), el Reglamento de Cláusulas Abusivas en Contratos con Consumidores de 1994 , [ 8 ] para implementar la Directiva de la UE sobre Cláusulas Abusivas en Contratos con Consumidores de 1993. [ 9 ] Por razones que no están claras, el SI de 1994 se consideró inadecuado y fue derogado y reemplazado por el Reglamento de Cláusulas Abusivas en Contratos con Consumidores de 1999. [ 10 ] La Ley de Derechos del Consumidor de 2015 , una importante ley del Reino Unido que consolida los derechos del consumidor, abolió el SI de 1999; por lo que presumiblemente la Ley de 2015 cumple con la directiva de la UE de 1993, que sigue vigente.

Efecto directo

Aunque inicialmente no se consideraba que las directivas fueran vinculantes antes de su transposición por los Estados miembros, el Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea desarrolló la doctrina del efecto directo, según la cual las directivas no transpuestas o transpuestas de forma deficiente pueden tener fuerza jurídica directa. En el importante caso Francovich contra Italia , el TJUE extendió el principio de Van Gend en Loos [ 11 ] para establecer que los Estados miembros que no transpusieran una directiva podrían incurrir en responsabilidad por indemnizar a las personas físicas y jurídicas perjudicadas por dicha falta de transposición.

Véase también

Referencias

  1. ↑ Derecho de la Unión Europea después de Maastricht: una guía práctica para abogados fuera de la Unión Europea . La Unión cuenta con dos tipos principales de actos legislativos: directivas y reglamentos.
  2. ↑ "Tratados, reglamentos, directivas y efecto directo" . Estudios europeos . Universidad de Portsmouth . Consultado el 21 de enero de 2021 .
  3. ↑ Humphreys, L., Santos, C., di Caro, L., Boella, G., van der Torre, L. y Robaldo, L. (2015), Mapping Consideratls to Normative Provisions in EU Legislation to Assist Legal Interpretation , consultado el 10 de abril de 2025.
  4. ↑ "Implementación en el Reino Unido de la Directiva 2009/20/CE de la UE sobre el seguro de los armadores para reclamaciones marítimas: evaluación de impacto" .
  5. ↑ Christine Fretten; Vaughne Miller (21 de julio de 2005). «La Unión Europea: una guía de terminología, procedimientos y fuentes» (PDF) . Biblioteca de la Cámara de los Comunes del Reino Unido, Sección de Asuntos Internacionales y Defensa. pág. 8. Nota estándar: SN/IA/3689. Archivado del original (PDF) el 12 de junio de 2010. Recuperado el 3 de septiembre de 2009. Tanto el Consejo de Ministros como la Comisión están facultados en virtud del Tratado CE para legislar. 
  6. ↑ Steiner, Josephine; Woods, Lorna; Twigg-Flesner, Christian (2006). Derecho de la UE (9.ª ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 56-60 . ISBN   978-0-19-927959-3.
  7. ↑ "Marcador del Mercado Interior: el mejor resultado de la historia: los Estados miembros alcanzan un nuevo objetivo antes de la fecha límite" . Europa . 9 de julio de 2008. Consultado el 18 de enero de 2009 .
  8. ↑ Legislación del Reino Unido, Reglamento sobre cláusulas abusivas en contratos de consumo de 1994 – SI 1994/3159
  9. ↑ "Disposiciones nacionales comunicadas por los Estados miembros en relación con la Directiva 93/13/CEE del Consejo, de 5 de abril de 1993, sobre cláusulas abusivas en los contratos con consumidores" .
  10. ↑ "Reglamento sobre cláusulas abusivas en los contratos de consumo de 1999" .
  11. ↑ Van Gend en Loos : Los tratados de la UE son capaces de crear derechos jurídicos exigibles tanto por personas físicas comoante los tribunales de los Estados miembros.
  • Cámara de los Comunes del Reino Unido: Informe sobre el proceso legislativo de la UE y el escrutinio por parte de los parlamentos nacionales .
  • EUR-Lex, base de datos de Derecho de la Unión Europea .