Making Fundamental Rights a Reality in EU Legislative Process : Ex ante Review of Proposals for EU Legislative Measures for their Compatibility with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

This study looks at the ex ante review of fundamental rights in the EU legislative process. It examines the rights-based review, which is carried out at different phases of EU law-making procedure before the EU legal act concerned is formally adopted and entered into force. An ex ante review of EU legislative proposals is examined here with relation to selected substantive fundamental rights, most notably the right to privacy and the right to data protection. Therefore, the normative framework of the analysis of the EU legislative process consists of fundamental rights which derive from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights. Continuity and change in ex ante review of EU legislation will be examined by analyzing selected case studies involving concrete pieces of EU legislation that mainly fall under the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice - a highly sensitive policy sector from the point of view of fundamental rights. Most of the chosen legislative dossiers are inextricably linked with anti-terrorism measures. The research is predominantly of legal-empirical nature and intends to merge theory with practice in an analytical-descriptive way. The analysis of the selected case studies is guided by a reliance on such doctrinal and theoretical constructs of fundamental and human rights law as the test of permissible limitations on fundamental rights with the proportionality test at its apex. Moreover, aside from understanding fundamental rights as a set of negative obligations binding upon the legislature, due attention will also be paid to assessing how positive obligations regarding fundamental rights have been dealt with by the EU legislature. In light of the major findings of the study, the EU system of rights-based constitutional review has significantly changed. This is due to the impact of the legally-binding EU Charter of Fundamental Rights entry into force in 2009, which carries fundamental rights aspects assuming increasing significance at the level of daily legislative activities by the EU institutions. Similarly, the Member States also appear to increasingly use rights-language in their national observations on EU legislative proposals. We are witnessing a considerable empowerment of EU ex ante review, but in a manner that this does not entail a corresponding weakening of the rights-based review by the courts, especially the CJEU. It is claimed that the EU system of rights-based review of EU legislation is evolving gradually towards a hybrid and essentially pluralistic system of review in which ex ante and ex post phases of review complement each other. Similarly, the fundamental rights review system of the EU involves a number of institutions and actors, at different levels and phases, carrying out their own part in the rights-based review of EU legislation as a whole. Given its essentially pluralistic normative and institutional composition, the EU s rights-based review system as a whole contributes to topical discussion on European constitutionalism and constitutional pluralism. This evolution has led to fundamental rights being taken more seriously in the EU legislative process, which has also impacted institutions. Keywords: Constitutional law, European Union, European Union law, Fundamental rights, Ex ante rights-based review of legislative proposals, legislative procedures of the EU

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Fyhr, Kim

• valtiosääntöoikeus

Statement dc:rights

• Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
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• Publikationen är skyddad av upphovsrätten. Den får läsas och skrivas ut för personligt bruk. Användning i kommersiellt syfte är förbjuden.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/168098

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/168098