Institutional acts

The European Parliament, the Commission and the Council of Ministers are empowered by the Treaties to legislate on all matters within the EU's competence.^[6] Examples of this secondary legislation are regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions. Secondary legislation also includes inter-institutional Treaties, which are Treaties made between European Union institutions clarifying their respective powers, especially in budgetary matters. The Parliament, Commission and Council are capable of entering into such Treaties.

The classification of legislative acts varies among the First, Second and Third Pillars. In the case of the first pillar: Secondary legislation is classified based on to whom it is directed, and how it is to be implemented. Regulations and directives bind everyone, while decisions only affect the parties to whom they are addressed (which can be individuals, corporations, or member states). Regulations have direct effect, i.e. they are binding in and of themselves as part of national law, while directives require implementation by national legislation to be effective. However, states that fail or refuse to implement directives as part of national law can be fined by the European Court of Justice.

Directives and regulations can comprise of a mixture of maximum harmonisation and minimum harmonisation clauses, and can be enforced on either a home state or a host state basis. All EU legislation must be based on a specific Treaty article, which is referred to as the "legal basis" of the legislation. The European Constitution would have codified EU law and reduced secondary legislation to six clear types: EU laws, EU framework laws, decisions, regulations, recommendations and opinions.

Courts

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), has jurisdiction in various specific matters, conferred on it by the Treaties. In particular Article 220 EC charges the ECJ (and the Court of First Instance) with ensuring that the law is observed "in the interpretation and application of this Treaty", and this provision has been used by the Court to extend its powers beyond those otherwise expressly granted. Since the Maastricht Treaty, the Court has been empowered to impose pecuniary penalties on Member States who disobey.^[9] The Court has been instrumental in shaping law in the EU, and its approach is generally described as purposive or teleological. The jurisprudence of the Court, together with that of the courts of the member states, has established and defined a number of principles of European Union law, which bind EU institutions and member states, including direct effect, the supremacy of European Union law over that of Member states, and state liabilty for damages.

According to the Treaty, the Court comprises one judge per member state; as of 2007 it has 27 judges. The judges are appointed "by common accord of the Governments of the Member states". The judges are appointed for a (renewable) period of six years.^[13] The Court is assisted by eight Advocates General. The Court usually sits in Chambers of three or five, but in some cases as a single judge, in especially important cases as a Grand Chamber of thirteen judges or as a full court.

The Court of First Instance (CFI) was established on the basis of the Single European Act in 1988 and was originally "attached to" the ECJ in a subsidiary role. Following the Treaty of Nice it was given greater independence and its own jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the CFI includes direct actions by natural or legal persons against Community institutions for their acts (or failure to act), actions by Member states against the Commission, and actions relating to Community trade marks.

According to the Treaty, the court comprises at least one judge per member state; as of 2007 it has 27 judges. The judges are appointed for a (renewable) period of six years. ^[19] Like the ECJ, the CFI usually sits in Chambers of three or five, but in some cases as a single judge, as a Grand Chamber of thirteen judges, or as a full court.^[20] Decisions of the CTI can be appealed to the ECJ on matters of law.^[21] To reduce the workload of the ECJ and the CFI, the Treaty of Nice (Article 225a) introduced "judicial panels" to be used in some areas, with appeal to the CFI.