1. Which of the Following Are the Primary Sources of EU Law?
Chapter 4
SOURCES OF EU LAW
1. Which of the following are the primary sources of EU law?
a. Regulations
b. The Treaties
c. Judgments of the ECJ.
a. This is an incorrect answer. Regulations are defined by Article 288 TFEU as being acts of general application directly applicable in all Member States. They are a secondary source of EU law.
b. This is the correct answer. Under international law treaties represent what has been agreed by the Member States and are the basic documents to be consulted when there is any dispute as to competences, powers or procedures within the EU.
c. This is an incorrect answer. Judgments of the ECJ are not regarded as a formal source of EU law but, in practice, the ECJ, in order to ensure coherence and consistency of its case law, usually relies on earlier cases to decide subsequent cases which raise the same or similar issues. Further, as the ECJ has, in its judgments, established the constitutional principles of EU law, ensured respect for fundamental rights by EU institutions and the Member States, and created EU administrative law, its case law is indeed an important source of EU law. This is particularly so in the light of the fact that often case law of the ECJ has been codified by the Member States either as an amendment to Treaties or as secondary legislation.
2. What article of the Treaty provides a definition of the secondary sources of EU law?
a. Article 19 TEU
b. Article 288 TFEU
c. Article 267 TFEU
a. This is an incorrect answer. Article 19 TEU deals with the responsibilities of the CJEU. It does not provide any definition of secondary sources of EU law.
b. This is the correct answer. Article 288TFEU provides a definition of regulations, directives, decisions and non-legally binding opinions and recommendations.
c. This is an incorrect answer. Article 267 deals with the procedure for a request for a preliminary ruling, a form of indirect action before the ECJ. It is a very important procedure and has been used to develop some of the most important principles of EU law, e.g. direct effect.
3. What distinguishes a regulation from other secondary legislative acts?
a. regulations include an instruction to national parliaments to pass the appropriate legislation.
b. regulations have general application and are directly applicable in all Member States.
c. regulations require Member States to publish them in their national official press.
a. This is a wrong answer. By their definition regulations do not require any national legislation to be passed.
b. This is the correct answer. Article 288 TFEUstates that regulations are directly applicable and binding in their entirety.
c. This is a wrong answer. Regulations are required to be published in the L series of the Official Journal of the European Union but not in individual Member States.
4. What discretion does a directive give to a Member State?
a. The Member State can decide whether to implement the directive or not.
b. The Member State may select provisions of a directive which they wish to implement whilst ignoring the provisions which they consider as contrary to the national interest.
c. The Member State can decide which form the implementation of the directive may take and whether any implementing measures are necessary. Accordingly in some circumstance a Member State may do nothing.
a. This is incorrect. Under Article 288 TFEU a Member State is obliged to achieve the result required by the directive.
b. This is incorrect. Selective implementation of directives is contrary to EU law.
c. This is the correct answer. The essential objective of directives is to achieve the prescribed result. This means that the national law of the Member State must be in conformity with the prescribed result once the time limit for the implementation of a directive expires. For that reason, sometimes no changes are necessary at the national level, if under national law the prescribed result has already been achieved. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases an addressee Member State has to implement a directive into national law.
5. In the hierarchy of sources of EU law delegated acts adopted by the Commission are:
a. superior to the general principles of EU law
b. superior to international agreements concluded by the EU
c. superior to implementing EU acts.
a. This is an incorrect answer. Only primary sources are superior to the general principles of EU law.
b. This is an incorrect answer. Primary sources of EU law, general principles of EU law and legislative acts are superior to delegated acts
c. This is the correct answer. Delegated acts are superior to implementing acts.