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View the related practice notes about National implementing measure

Challenging EU Directives

In briefAccording to settled case law, the Court of Justice of the European Union has the exclusive competence to declare an act of the EU invalid.Under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the validity of an EU Directive can be challenged by:•bringing a direct action for annulment before the Court of Justice under Article 263 TFEU•raising the invalidity of the Directive indirectly in a dispute before a national court. The action in the national court is directed against the implementing measures adopted by the national authorities to transpose a Directive into national law. The national court hearing the case can ask the Court of Justice to review the validity of the Directive by way of the preliminary reference procedure in Article 267 TFEU•a challenge incidentally under Article 277 TFEU (plea of illegality) attached to a main direct action brought under Article 263 TFEUDirect action for annulmentActions under Article 263 TFEU need to satisfy admissibility and merits (grounds) requirements. They are lodged in the General Court with...

Ministerial powers to implement EU directives [Archived]

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.EU legislation which is not directly applicable (eg Directives and Decisions) can be enacted either by primary or secondary legislation in the UK. The vast majority of EU legislation is enacted by Statutory Instrument (SI) under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (ECA 1972). This section confers authority on ministers, government departments or Her Majesty in Council to make, with certain exceptions contained in Schedule 2 of the Act, subordinate legislation.Subordinate legislation made under this section can repeal or amend existing legislation if this is incompatible with EU law, including, subject to certain conditions, Acts of Parliament.The use of statutory instruments to implement subordinate legislationSIs implementing EU law are made under the powers in s1(1) and s 1(2) of the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (SIA 1946).In the context of the EU, where any such subordinate legislation includes provisions addressing technical standards then under Directive 83/189/EEC (as amended by Directive 88/182/EEC) any such technical regulations are required to be...