What is the EU?

The European Union was created by intergovernmental treaties between the Member States. These treaties defined a number of institutions, and defined their competence. The EU is a unique economic and political partnership.

It is a free trade area, with most product-related regulation harmonized
It is an area with free movement of labor
It has many common environmental standards
It has many common social standards
It is attempting to develop a unified foreign policy

EU Member States continue to exist, with their own politics and parliaments. However, in some areas — e.g., laws concerning the trading of goods, also known as "Internal Market legislation"— they have very little freedom to go against agreed EU regulation.

This page gives a simplified introduction to the EU — for more information, follow the links to the EU institutions, and those at the base of the page.

Who is in the EU?

The EU is currently made up of 27 countries, making up a total population of about 495 million: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta [in order of population size]. For more information click here.

In addition, three countries that are in the European Economic Area (EEA) but not the EU — Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein — also apply many EU regulations, including those related to the internal market. However, EEA countries have no vote in EU decision-making processes. Switzerland is working towards closer integration with the EU and has signed agreements in many policy areas. The Swiss Parliament decided to maintain the application for membership, while the European Union maintains its position that the EU stays open for Switzerland to join. Throughout its history the EU has been gradually expanding, and discussions are ongoing with current candidate countries - Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Other European and former Eastern block countries may soon start talks on closer integration with the EU.

How Does the EU Operate?

The EU treaties have created a system of governance for the EU, including decision making bodies, regulatory processes and organizations which do the day to day work of the EU. The most recent Treaties are the Single European Act 1986, Maastricht 1992, Amsterdam 1997, Nice 2001. The latest - the Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007. It will have to be ratified by all 27 Member States before it can enter into force, which is hoped to be before the next European Parliament elections in June 2009. The Treaty of Lisbon amends the current EU and EC treaties, without replacing them. It will provide the EU with modern institutions and optimized working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today's challenges.

For the purposes of a discussion of chemicals policy, EU governance can be simplified to three key components, each of which is explained in more detail below:

The European Commission
The European Parliament
Member State governments, working together as Council

There are other important bodies in the EU, including the European Court of Justice, which adjudicates on disputes relating to EU powers and decision making.

The European Commission

The European Commission is the core institution that runs the day to day business of the EU. It is the only European institution that can draft legislation (often after a request from Council), though it is the Parliament and Council that can vote on it. The Commission is able to fine Member States who do not implement EU laws, but they are not usually able to enforce the laws directly. One notable exception is Competition Law, where the Commission is able to take enforcement action against companies.

The Commission is divided into departments, or "Directorate Generals", such as DG Environment and DG Enterprise. The Commission websites have information on every area of EU policy, and regulation.

Council

Council is the made up of ministers from the EU Member State governments, and acts as one of the chambers of EU decision making. At a higher level, The European Council brings together heads of state and government from the EU, along with the president of the European Commission, in order to set the political direction of the EU. Each subject area has a separate Council of Ministers, made up of Ministers from Member State governments, e.g. Environment Council = Environment Ministers. The ministers meet several times a year to make decisions relating to the EU, though government officials have meetings all year around discussing the policy details. The presidency of the Council rotates every 6 months and the decision of 1 January 2007 determines the future order of the country with the presidency. The Presidency of the Council plays an essential role in organizing the work of the institution, particularly in promoting legislative and political decisions. It is responsible for organizing and chairing all meetings, including the many working groups, and for brokering compromises. Council meetings are not accessible to the public, and much of the Council debate happens in secret.

The European Parliament

The 785 Members of the European Parliament are directly-elected every five years by voters of the 27 Member States with the larger Member States electing more MEPs. Each revision of the Treaties has seen an increase in the power of the European Parliament in relation to the other institutions. Today the European Parliament is a co-legislator with the Council, has budgetary powers and exercises democratic controls over all the European institutions. All committee meetings and plenary sessions are open to the public and a register gives access to documents. Parliament has also created a database of past activities of historical importance.

How is EU Legislation Created?

Most EU legislation is passed through the co-decision process, in which the Commission drafts a proposal, then both Parliament and Council discuss, amend and vote on the proposal through two 'readings'. At the end of the processes, both Council and Parliament must reach an agreement on the final proposal, which then enters into law on publication in the EU's Official Journal. It worth noting that in the EU process, in contrast to the US system, most of the legislation that is proposed will, eventually, become law. The database on inter-institutional procedures follows the major stages of the all Commission proposals (legislative and budgetary dossiers, conclusions of international agreements) and communications from their transmission to the Council or the European Parliament

How is EU Legislation Implemented and Enforced?

EU laws (regulations, directives and decisions) take precedence over national law and are binding on national authorities. The EU also issues non-binding instruments, such as recommendations and opinions, as well as rules governing how EU institutions and programs work, etc. The two main types of EU legislation binding on Member States are:

Directives are addressed to national authorities, who must then take action to make them part of national law. Their implementation can respect and be incorporated into the law of Member States. They provide for minimum, but not necessarily totally harmonized standards. Each Directive includes a date by which this implementation must have been completed. The texts officially adopted by the authorities in a Member State to incorporate the provisions in a Directive into national law are sent to the Commission by national authorities. They are scrutinized to ensure that they will actually implement in that Member State all the measures required in the Directive.
Regulations are the most direct form of EU law - once they are passed and come into force, they have binding legal force throughout every Member State, on a par with national laws. National governments do not have to take action themselves to implement EU regulations. Regulations are passed either jointly by the EU Council and European Parliament, or by the Commission alone.

Each Member State is responsible for the implementation of Community law (adoption of implementing measures before a specified deadline, conformity and correct application) within its own legal system. Where a Member State fails to comply with Community law, the Commission has powers of its own to try to bring the infringement to an end and, where necessary, may refer the case to the European Court of Justice or may fine them. In the most extreme cases, Member States can be subject to a daily fine – the first was applied to Greece when they were fined for poor waste management on Crete.

Almost all enforcement of EU legislation occurs within the established legal systems in Member States. This leads to complaints about uneven implementation of regulations in different countries, but at the moment there is no sign that Member States wish to give more power to the Commission in this area. A small number of regulations are enforced at EU level, notably competition law, for example antitrust cases.

Agencies in the EU

A number of specialized and decentralized EU agencies have been established to support the EU Member States and their citizens. They are geographical devolved and cope with new tasks of a legal, technical and/or scientific nature in several policy areas. The EU’s agencies are grouped into 4 different categories: Community, Common Foreign and Security Policy, Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters, and Executive Agencies. There are currently 24 agencies dealing with a wide variety of issues from aviation safety to trademarks but there are several with considerable influence on chemical policy such as

However the most important is the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) based in Helsinki.