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Maximum Harmonisation
Maximum harmonisation is a term used in EU law. If a piece of law (usually a directive but occasionally also a regulation) is described as maximum harmonisation, national law may not exceed the terms of the legislation. In practice, that prohibits gold-plating of EU legislation when it is transposed into national law. It may also result in the repeal or amendment of existing national law, such as the effect of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive on the British Trade Descriptions Act 1968. Traditionally it was fairly uncommon for European legislation to be drafted on such a basis. However, deregulation has risen in the political agenda in the EU, as have concerns that member states occasionally use the national implementation of EU law as an opportunity to indulge in backdoor protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EU Law
European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples". The EU has political institutions, social and economic policies, which transcend nation states for the purpose of cooperation and human development. According to its Court of Justice the EU represents "a new legal order of international law".''Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen'' (1963Case 26/62/ref> The EU's legal foundations are the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, currently unanimously agreed on by the governments of 27 member states. New members may join if they agree to follow the rules of the union, and existing states may leave according to their "own constitutional requirements".TEart 50 On the most sophisticated disc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Directive (European Union)
A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before their laws are ruling on individuals residing in their countries. 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. Justification There are justifications for using a directive rather than a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regulation (European Union)
A regulation is a legal act of the European Union that becomes immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously. Regulations can be distinguished from directives which, at least in principle, need to be transposed into national law. Regulations can be adopted by means of a variety of legislative procedures depending on their subject matter. Description The description of regulations can be found in 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold-plating (European Union Law)
Gold-plating is a term used to characterise the process whereby the powers of an EU directive are extended when being transposed into the national laws of a member state. In an operational study relating to the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, the European Commission treats gold-plating as a source of interference with policy outcomes, defining gold-plating as "an excess of norms, guidelines and procedures accumulated at national, regional and local levels, which interfere with the expected policy goals to be achieved by such regulation". Business lobbyists generally argue against gold-plating, because additional regulation tends to raise costs for businesses, but there are a few companies who stand to benefit from it. In case of gold-plating, the European Court of Justice does in fact have jurisdiction to interpret EU law, even if the case at hand is not directly governed by EU law. Examples The UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills gave the Agency ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/ECOfficial Journal of the European Union, L149/22 – L149/39, 11 June 2005 regulates unfair business practices in EU law, as part of European consumer law. It requires corresponding laws to be passed that incorporate it into each member state's legal system. The Directive is concerned mainly with the "substantive" law (meaning in this context the standards of behaviour required of traders). To some extent it leaves to member states the choice of appropriate domestic enforcement procedures and penalties for non-compliance (Articles 11 to 13 of the Directive). Contents Recitals The recitals state the objective of the Directive to reduce barriers to free trade in the EU while simultaneously ensuring a high level of consumer protection. At issue was the fact that the consumer protection laws are different among the various member states (see Article 1 of the Directive and the recitals to it). The Directive is supposed to reduce th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trade Descriptions Act 1968
The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which prevents manufacturers, retailers or service industry providers from misleading consumers as to what they are spending their money on. This law empowers the judiciary to punish companies or individuals who make false claims about the products or services that they sell. Applying a false trade description to goods is a strict liability offence: provided it is shown that the description was applied and was false, the accused has to prove certain defences in order to escape conviction. False descriptions as to services require the more normal proof of ''mens rea'' (guilty intent). The Act excludes matters relating to land and buildings, which are now dealt with under the provisions of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. Changes The Act was in conflict with the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which has been adopted in the UK and was implemented from April 2008. Although technic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a result of new trends in economic thinking about the inefficiencies of government regulation, and the risk that regulatory agencies would be controlled by the regulated industry to its benefit, and thereby hurt consumers and the wider economy. Economic regulations were promoted during the Gilded Age, in which progressive reforms were claimed as necessary to limit externalities like corporate abuse, unsafe child labor, monopolization, pollution, and to mitigate boom and bust cycles. Around the late 1970s, such reforms were deemed burdensome on economic growth and many politicians espousing neoliberalism started promoting deregulation. The stated rationale for deregulation is often that fewer and simpler regulations will lead to raised level ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. Proponents argue that protectionist policies shield the producers, businesses, and workers of the Import substitution industrialization, import-competing sector in the country from foreign competitors. Opponents argue that protectionist policies reduce trade and adversely affect consumers in general (by raising the cost of imported goods) as well as the producers and workers in export sectors, both in the country implementing protectionist policies and in the countries protected against. Protectionism is advocated mainly by parties that hold Economic nationalism, economic nationalist or left-wing positions, while economically right-wing political parties generally support free trade. There is a consensus among economists that protectioni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimum Harmonisation
Minimum harmonisation is a term used in European Union law. Minimum harmonisation describes a piece of law (usually a directive but occasionally a regulation) that sets a threshold national legislation must meet. EU Member State national legislation may exceed the terms of minimum harmonisation law. Much EU legislation has been implemented on a minimum harmonization basis as it can be easier to reach agreement, allowing existing EU Member State national legislation on issues such as consumer protection or the environment to remain in place. In more recent years, the burden of EU law has led to calls for deregulation and accusations that some member states indulge in protectionism when implementing directives into EU Member State national law by gold-plating. Therefore, on the opposite end of the regulation spectrum, a growing minority of EU law contains maximum harmonisation Maximum harmonisation is a term used in EU law. If a piece of law (usually a directive but occasion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
