Direct applicability refers to the fact that EU Regulations require no implementing legislation within individual member states - they take effect as soon as they are

published Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, news ...

by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

Legal basis

Direct applicability is a concept of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

constitutional law that relates specifically to ''regulations'', direct applicability (or the characteristic of regulations to be ''directly effective'') is set out in Article 288 (ex Article 249) of the

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establishi ...

(as amended by the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...

Relation to direct effect

Direct applicability is often confused with the doctrine of

direct effect In European Union law, direct effect is the principle that Union law may, if appropriately framed, confer rights on individuals which the courts of member states of the European Union are bound to recognise and enforce. Direct effect is not e ...

. This confusion is perhaps explained by reference to the treaty provision governing regulations which provides that they, and only they, have ''direct applicability'' within the member states. The early jurisprudence of the ECJ suggested that 'direct effect' was a consequence of direct applicability as it was thought that the drafters of the original treaty intended regulations, and only regulations, to be directly effective. However, the expansion of the doctrine of direct effect to include directives and other measures served to create a distinction between direct applicability and direct effect. ''Direct applicability'' is now taken to mean that regulations require no domestic implementation - if direct effect was only ever intended to be a consequence of direct applicability then the relationship has been severed by a series of ECJ cases.

Horizontal en vertical applicability

There is a further distinction between vertical direct and horizontal effect of a Regulation or treaty. Vertical effect means that you can use the Regulation or treaty against a member state, whereas horizontal direct effect means that you can use the Regulation or treaty against another individual.

References

Administrative law European Union law {{EU-stub