Do The Provisions Of The Eucfr Produce A Horizontal Effect

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, Maastricht University (Faculty of Law), course: EU Law Foundations, language: English, abstract: This paper deals with one of the most controversial issues of recent years; the horizontal application of EU fundamental rights. The growing importance of fundamental rights within the European Integration becomes especially noticeable in their increasing textualization. In 1969 the European Court of Justice in Cases showed for the first time sensitivity for Fundamental Rights in the Stauder-Case. One of the most controversial issues of recent years is the horizontal application of EU fun-damental rights. It is questionable whether fundamental rights can have an impact on private law relationships and more precisely, to what extent they are directly applicable in relations between private individuals. This topic is not just of theoretical interest, but also matters in practice. If there is no European or domestic legislation implementing fundamental rights, individuals may have problems to enforce their rights in private relationships unless those rights are directly applicable.

This book analyses the horizontal effect of fundamental rights in the European Union, from a constitutional perspective. It advances two main arguments: First, it argues that the horizontal effect of fundamental rights (i.e. their application to disputes between private parties) cannot be usefully discussed based on the existing EU horizontality doctrine, which associates horizontality with the exercise of horizontal direct effect only. That doctrine is characterised by a series of overly technical rules as to how the latter may be produced and has a case-specific nature that lacks overall constitutional coherence. Secondly, the book argues that a substantive theory of horizontality is required in EU law and sketches its main parameters. In the fundamental rights context, horizontal effect has organisational implications for society, which go beyond specific intersubjective disputes. It is argued that its determination requires an explicit recognition of the public character of certain private platforms of will formation (e.g. the workplace) and a discussion of the role of fundamental rights therein. At the same time, a constitutionally adequate model of horizontality involves an acknowledgment of the supranational character of EU adjudication: the determination of horizontal applicability of a fundamental right within a type of private authority relationship falls upon the Court of Justice, but the precise manifestation of horizontal effect (e.g. direct, indirect or state-mediated effect) rests with national courts.

This book analyses the horizontal effect of fundamental rights in the European Union, from a constitutional perspective. It advances two main arguments: First, it argues that the horizontal effect of fundamental rights (i.e. their application to disputes between private parties) cannot be usefully discussed based on the existing EU horizontality doctrine, which associates horizontality with the exercise of horizontal direct effect only. That doctrine is characterised by a series of overly technical rules as to how the latter may be produced and has a case-specific nature that lacks overall constitutional coherence. Secondly, the book argues that a substantive theory of horizontality is required in EU law and sketches its main parameters. In the fundamental rights context, horizontal effect has organisational implications for society, which go beyond specific intersubjective disputes. It is argued that its determination requires an explicit recognition of the public character of certain private platforms of will formation (e.g. the workplace) and a discussion of the role of fundamental rights therein. At the same time, a constitutionally adequate model of horizontality involves an acknowledgment of the supranational character of EU adjudication: the determination of horizontal applicability of a fundamental right within a type of private authority relationship falls upon the Court of Justice, but the precise manifestation of horizontal effect (e.g. direct, indirect or state-mediated effect) rests with national courts.

The sphere of public law is ill-defined and controversial. Taking the broad view that it comprises aspects of (for instance) constitutional principles, good and humane administration, judicial review based on the rule of law, human rights, liability for wrongdoing, public procurement, provision of public services, transparency, social media and protection of privacy – areas that link legal control to broad governmental purposes – the third edition of this established and much-praised work expands its examination of the emergence of European public law from European Union (EU) law (and its European Community and European Economic Community antecedents), the European Convention on Human Rights and the interface of these systems with Member State systems, to include the currently all-important challenge of Brexit. The book explains in detail what European public law is and the context in which laws interact in European societies. Masterfully summarising the debate surrounding the influence of EU and European Convention law on Member State law – particularly that of the United Kingdom (UK) – in a thematic and analytical manner, the author covers the following topics and much more as they persist in the shadow of Brexit: constitutional law and administrative law in the EU and France, Germany and the UK; subsidiarity in the EU and UK devolution; openness, transparency and access to information; national parliaments and scrutiny of EU law; influence of EU law on UK judicial review; access to justice in the light of austerity and government cuts in public expenditure; the future of the UK Human Rights Act; European influence on the law of liability; EU ombudsmen and internal grievance procedures; future relationship between EU and UK domestic law; citizenship and protection of human rights; competition, regulation, public service and the market; the impact of Brexit, the legal consequences of UK withdrawal legislation and European Public Law, the EU-UK written agreements on separation and the political statement’s prospects for a post-Brexit trade deal. Detailed analyses of major cases and legal provisions are featured throughout the book. Given that the effects of Brexit will take decades to unfold, and not only in the UK, this new edition of a classic text will prove to be an invaluable guide to the ever-developing European context of domestic public law. The indelible marks of European integration must be fully understood if we are to understand public law and its future direction. The book will be of enormous assistance to political theorists and scientists and commentators and of immeasurable practical and academic importance in monitoring the future of Europe and its legal relationship with the UK. Academics and students will be rewarded by the detailed analysis of the context in which national laws and European laws interact. Practitioners in the UK, Europe and globally will gain invaluable insight into the laws they use to resolve practical questions of legal interpretation.

In recent years the impact of human rights and fundamental rights on private law has risen in prominence and led to a whole series of detailed investigations. 'Constitutionalization of private law' is the flag under which most of the research on the increasing impact of national constitutional rights on national private legal orders is sailing. In the absence of a European Constitution, the constitutionalization of European private law suggests a process: constitutionalization instead of constituent power, demos, and the magic constitutional moment. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights constitute the two pillars on which the transformation of European private law rests. This volume clearly demonstrates the change that has taken place, at the national and at the European level. Private law is no longer immune to the intrusion of fundamental and human rights. Whilst member states and the EU are driving the process by adopting ever more concrete and more comprehensive lists of human and fundamental rights, at the national, the European, and international level with overlapping contents, the true and key players in this development are the national and European courts. Contributions to this volume give this process a face and a direction, which is highlighted in the introduction by Hans-W. Micklitz.

This book investigates the international responsibility of the EU in relation to the activities of the Frontex Border Agency.

This book explores how the Internet impacts on the protection of fundamental rights, particularly with regard to freedom of speech and privacy. In doing so, it seeks to bridge the gap between Internet Law and European and Constitutional Law. The book aims to emancipate the debate on internet law and jurisprudence from the dominant position, with specific reference to European legal regimes. This approach aims to inject a European and constitutional “soul” into the topic. Moreover, the book addresses the relationship between new technologies and the protection of fundamental rights within the theoretical debate surrounding the process of European integration, with particular emphasis on judicial dialogue. This innovative book provides a thorough analysis of the forms, models and styles of judicial protection of fundamental rights in the digital era and compares the European vision to that of the United States. The book offers the first comparative analysis in which the notion of (judicial) frame, borrowed from linguistic and cognitive studies, is systematically applied to the theories of interpretation and argumentation. With a Foreword by Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Commentary on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (four volumes) is a major European project that aims to contribute to the development of ever closer conceptual and dogmatic standpoints with regard to the creation of “Europeanised research on Union law”. Following on from the Commentary on the Treaty of the European Union, this book presents detailed explanations, article by article, of all the provisions of the TFEU, discussing the application of Union law in the national legal orders and its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the EU. The authors are academics and practitioners from twenty-eight European states and different legal fields, some from a constitutional law background, others experts in the field of international law and EU law.Reflecting the various approaches to European legal culture, this book promotes a system concept of European Union law toward more unity notwithstanding its rich diversity grounded in national traditions.