Module 1.

Introduction to EU law

The Treaty on the

Functioning of the
European Union, Part II
Lecture 6: Compendium

1. Legislation
Treaty on European Union (TEU)
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12016M/TXT

Treaty on the Function of the European Union (TFEU)

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12016E%2FTXT

Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2016.202.01.0389.01.ENG

1.1 Excerpts from TFEU

Article 207 TFEU

1. The common commercial policy shall be based on uniform principles, particularly with
regard to changes in tariff rates, the conclusion of tariff and trade agreements relating to trade
in goods and services, and the commercial aspects of intellectual property, foreign direct
investment, the achievement of uniformity in measures of liberalisation, export policy and
measures to protect trade such as those to be taken in the event of dumping or subsidies. The
common commercial policy shall be conducted in the context of the principles and objectives
of the Union's external action.

2. The European Parliament and the Council, acting by means of regulations in accordance
with the ordinary legislative procedure, shall adopt the measures defining the framework for
implementing the common commercial policy.

3. Where agreements with one or more third countries or international organisations need to
be negotiated and concluded, Article 218 shall apply, subject to the special provisions of this
Article.

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The Commission shall make recommendations to the Council, which shall authorise it to open
the necessary negotiations. The Council and the Commission shall be responsible for ensuring
that the agreements negotiated are compatible with internal Union policies and rules.

The Commission shall conduct these negotiations in consultation with a special committee
appointed by the Council to assist the Commission in this task and within the framework of
such directives as the Council may issue to it. The Commission shall report regularly to the
special committee and to the European Parliament on the progress of negotiations.

4. For the negotiation and conclusion of the agreements referred to in paragraph 3, the Council
shall act by a qualified majority.

For the negotiation and conclusion of agreements in the fields of trade in services and the
commercial aspects of intellectual property, as well as foreign direct investment, the Council
shall act unanimously where such agreements include provisions for which unanimity is
required for the adoption of internal rules.

The Council shall also act unanimously for the negotiation and conclusion of agreements:

(a) in the field of trade in cultural and audiovisual services, where these agreements risk
prejudicing the Union's cultural and linguistic diversity;
(b) in the field of trade in social, education and health services, where these agreements risk
seriously disturbing the national organisation of such services and prejudicing the
responsibility of Member States to deliver them.

5. The negotiation and conclusion of international agreements in the field of transport shall be
subject to Title VI of Part Three and to Article 218.

6. The exercise of the competences conferred by this Article in the field of the common
commercial policy shall not affect the delimitation of competences between the Union and the
Member States, and shall not lead to harmonisation of legislative or regulatory provisions of
the Member States in so far as the Treaties exclude such harmonisation.

Article 20 TFEU

1. Union policy in the field of development cooperation shall be conducted within the
framework of the principles and objectives of the Union's external action. The Union's
development cooperation policy and that of the Member States complement and reinforce each
other.

Union development cooperation policy shall have as its primary objective the reduction and, in
the long term, the eradication of poverty. The Union shall take account of the objectives of
development cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing
countries.

2. The Union and the Member States shall comply with the commitments and take account of
the objectives they have approved in the context of the United Nations and other competent
international organisations.

Article 222 TFEU

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1. The Union and its Member States shall act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if a Member State
is the object of a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster. The Union
shall mobilise all the instruments at its disposal, including the military resources made available
by the Member States, to:

(a)
- prevent the terrorist threat in the territory of the Member States;
- protect democratic institutions and the civilian population from any terrorist attack;
- assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities, in the
event of a terrorist attack;
(b) assist a Member State in its territory, at the request of its political authorities, in the
event of a natural or man-made disaster.

2. Should a Member State be the object of a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-
made disaster, the other Member States shall assist it at the request of its political authorities.
To that end, the Member States shall coordinate between themselves in the Council.

3. The arrangements for the implementation by the Union of the solidarity clause shall be
defined by a decision adopted by the Council acting on a joint proposal by the Commission and
the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Council shall
act in accordance with Article 31(1) of the Treaty on European Union where this decision has
defence implications. The European Parliament shall be informed.

For the purposes of this paragraph and without prejudice to Article 240, the Council shall be
assisted by the Political and Security Committee with the support of the structures developed
in the context of the common security and defence policy and by the Committee referred to in
Article 71; the two committees shall, if necessary, submit joint opinions.

4. The European Council shall regularly assess the threats facing the Union in order to enable
the Union and its Member States to take effective action.

Article 288 TFEU

To exercise the Union's competences, the institutions shall adopt regulations, directives,
decisions, recommendations and opinions.

A regulation shall have general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.

A directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which
it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods.

A decision shall be binding in its entirety. A decision which specifies those to whom it is
addressed shall be binding only on them.

Recommendations and opinions shall have no binding force.

Article 294 TFEU

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1. Where reference is made in the Treaties to the ordinary legislative procedure for the adoption
of an act, the following procedure shall apply.

2. The Commission shall submit a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council.

3. The European Parliament shall adopt its position at first reading and communicate it to the
Council.

4. If the Council approves the European Parliament's position, the act concerned shall be
adopted in the wording which corresponds to the position of the European Parliament.

5. If the Council does not approve the European Parliament's position, it shall adopt its position
at first reading and communicate it to the European Parliament.

6. The Council shall inform the European Parliament fully of the reasons which led it to adopt
its position at first reading. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament fully of its
position.

7. If, within three months of such communication, the European Parliament:

(a) approves the Council's position at first reading or has not taken a decision, the act
concerned shall be deemed to have been adopted in the wording which corresponds to
the position of the Council;
(b) rejects, by a majority of its component members, the Council's position at first reading,
the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted;
(c) proposes, by a majority of its component members, amendments to the Council's
position at first reading, the text thus amended shall be forwarded to the Council and to
the Commission, which shall deliver an opinion on those amendments.

8. If, within three months of receiving the European Parliament's amendments, the Council,
acting by a qualified majority:

(a) approves all those amendments, the act in question shall be deemed to have been
adopted;
(b) does not approve all the amendments, the President of the Council, in agreement with
the President of the European Parliament, shall within six weeks convene a meeting of
the Conciliation Committee.

9. The Council shall act unanimously on the amendments on which the Commission has
delivered a negative opinion.

10. The Conciliation Committee, which shall be composed of the members of the Council or
their representatives and an equal number of members representing the European Parliament,
shall have the task of reaching agreement on a joint text, by a qualified majority of the members
of the Council or their representatives and by a majority of the members representing the
European Parliament within six weeks of its being convened, on the basis of the positions of
the European Parliament and the Council at second reading.

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11. The Commission shall take part in the Conciliation Committee's proceedings and shall
take all necessary initiatives with a view to reconciling the positions of the European Parliament
and the Council.

12. If, within six weeks of its being convened, the Conciliation Committee does not approve
the joint text, the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted.

13. If, within that period, the Conciliation Committee approves a joint text, the European
Parliament, acting by a majority of the votes cast, and the Council, acting by a qualified
majority, shall each have a period of six weeks from that approval in which to adopt the act in
question in accordance with the joint text. If they fail to do so, the proposed act shall be deemed
not to have been adopted.

14. The periods of three months and six weeks referred to in this Article shall be extended by
a maximum of one month and two weeks respectively at the initiative of the European
Parliament or the Council.

15. Where, in the cases provided for in the Treaties, a legislative act is submitted to the ordinary
legislative procedure on the initiative of a group of Member States, on a recommendation by
the European Central Bank, or at the request of the Court of Justice, paragraph 2, the second
sentence of paragraph 6, and paragraph 9 shall not apply.

In such cases, the European Parliament and the Council shall communicate the proposed act to
the Commission with their positions at first and second readings. The European Parliament or
the Council may request the opinion of the Commission throughout the procedure, which the
Commission may also deliver on its own initiative. It may also, if it deems it necessary, take
part in the Conciliation Committee in accordance with paragraph 11.

Article 335 TFEU

In each of the Member States, the Union shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded
to legal persons under their laws; it may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and
immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings. To this end, the Union shall be
represented by the Commission. However, the Union shall be represented by each of the
institutions, by virtue of their administrative autonomy, in matters relating to their respective
operation.

Article 339 TFEU

The members of the institutions of the Union, the members of committees, and the officials and
other servants of the Union shall be required, even after their duties have ceased, not to disclose
information of the kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy, in particular
information about undertakings, their business relations or their cost components.

Article 340 TFEU

The contractual liability of the Union shall be governed by the law applicable to the contract in
question.

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In the case of non-contractual liability, the Union shall, in accordance with the general
principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its
institutions or by its servants in the performance of their duties.

Notwithstanding the second paragraph, the European Central Bank shall, in accordance with
the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused
by it or by its servants in the performance of their duties.

The personal liability of its servants towards the Union shall be governed by the provisions laid
down in their Staff Regulations or in the Conditions of Employment applicable to them.

Article 346 TFEU

1. The provisions of the Treaties shall not preclude the application of the following rules:

(a) no Member State shall be obliged to supply information the disclosure of which it
considers contrary to the essential interests of its security;
(b) any Member State may take such measures as it considers necessary for the protection
of the essential interests of its security which are connected with the production of or
trade in arms, munitions and war material; such measures shall not adversely affect the
conditions of competition in the internal market regarding products which are not
intended for specifically military purposes.

2. The Council may, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, make changes
to the list, which it drew up on 15 April 1958, of the products to which the provisions of
paragraph 1(b) apply.

Article 347 TFEU

Member States shall consult each other with a view to taking together the steps needed to
prevent the functioning of the internal market being affected by measures which a Member
State may be called upon to take in the event of serious internal disturbances affecting the
maintenance of law and order, in the event of war, serious international tension constituting a
threat of war, or in order to carry out obligations it has accepted for the purpose of maintaining
peace and international security.

2. Online Resources
Official website of the EU
http://europa.eu/european-union/index_en

Court of Justice of the EU

http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/

EU Main legal database

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en

The Official Journal of the EU

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http://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html