Direct Effect, Supremacy and State Liability - A Comparison between EC Law and the EEA Agreement

• Main Author: Thorvaldsson, Olafur
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: Lunds universitet/Juridiska institutionen 2003
• Subjects: European Affairs; Law and Political Science; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1554727

The aim of the paper is to discuss some of the basic elements of the legal system in EC law in comparison with the EEA Agreement. The conclusions will have special reference to Icelandic law. The reason for this approach is that the EEA Agreement is closely linked with EC law. Therefore it is necessary to begin approaching the basic rules within the EC in order to better understand the EEA system and avoid perplexity. The doctrines of direct effect and supremacy are firmly embodied as foundations of EC law, and renders the Treaty as a constitution for the Member States, which undoubtedly makes EC law so special in the history of legal integration between nations. The development of the doctrine of direct effect will be addressed with special reference to the doctrine of supremacy. The conditions an EC rule must fulfil in order to have direct effect will be deliberated and explained by case law. The different scope of these two doctrines in regard to the Treaty provisions and the secondary legislation will also be addressed. The European Economic Area, consists of the European Community and its Member States and the participating EFTA States, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The EEA Agreement was meant to retain its nature as an agreement made under public international law. It also had, however, the purpose of the creating and maintaining a homogeneous and dynamic economic area, based on common rules and equal conditions of competition and providing for adequate means of enforcement including at the judicial level. Therefore the participating EFTA States adopted the Community acquis communautaire to a very large extent. The EEA Agreement extends the internal market beyond Community boundaries, by providing the participating states of EFTA with free access to the single European market. Even though the Agreement relates mainly to the adoption of EC rules on Free movement and Competition, the Agreement also deals with integration in various fields other than these economic ones. Therefore the Agreement is ...