Legal Acts of the European Union are laws which are adopted by the

Institutions of the European Union The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision-making bodies of the European Union and the Euratom. They are, as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union: * the European Parliament, * the European Counci ...

in order to exercise the powers given to them by the EU Treaties. They come in five forms: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions. Regulations and directives can be either legislative or non-legislative acts. Legislative acts are normally adopted by the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

and the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

acting together, and have their legal basis in the treaties. Non-legislative acts are adopted 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 o ...

in pursuance with powers given to it by legislative acts. Their function is to fill in the detail omitted by legislative acts.

Kinds

* A

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

becomes immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously. It can be considered as equivalent to a pan-European act of parliament. * A directive requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. * A decision is binding in its entirety. A decision which specifies those to whom it is addressed is only binding on them. * Recommendations and opinions are non-binding.

References

{{Reflist European Union law

Kinds

See also

References