There have been changes to institutions: some have had name changes (such as the ‘Assembly’ to ‘European Parliament’); some have had powers removed or added, and some have been relatively recently created (for example, the Committee of the Regions). It is therefore important to be clear about the construction of the EU, the place of the EC, its areas of legal competency and the extent and limits of EC law, name changes of institutions and treaties, and changes to the numbering of articles in the treaties. This introduction sets out the approach taken, and the terms to be used in this section with the reasons for their use explained. The section will also give a historical and chronological review of the development of the Union and the current place of the Community. This should enable you to read most texts in the area with a reasonably clear map of your own of the interconnections between the EU, the EC, EC law and their effects on the English legal system. For the rest of this section the following abbreviated terms will normally be used: • ‘Union’ when referring to the European Union; • ‘Community’ when referring to the European Community; • ‘Community law’ or ‘EC law’ when referring to European Community law. The relationship between the English legal system, the Union and the Community is complex. But then the very concept of the Union itself is complex. The Union was established in 1992 and currently there are 15 Member States, with 13 more candidate States waiting to join. There are three spheres of activity in the Union customarily referred to as the three ‘pillars’ of the Union. Pillar 1: the three founding Communities established in the 1950s: (a) the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); (b) the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); (c) European Economic Community (EEC), since 1992 called the European Community, which was set up by the EEC Treaty. Pillar 2: agreed co-operation in the area of foreign affairs and security. Pillar 3: agreed co-operation in the areas of home affairs and justice. It is a Union that is joined together not as a federal system of States, such as the United States of America, nor as a range of States contracting at only the political level. The Union is a supra-national Union of States agreeing to be bound together in part politically, in part co-operatively and socially and in large part through a unique legal order—the acquis communautaire (‘community patrimony’) or ‘Community law’. A legal order that has effect by being incorporated into the legal systems of every Member State, and the English legal system is no exception. The legal order of the Union remains rooted in that part of the Union that is the Community. It is the nature of the legal order that makes the Union unique. For although the Union is established by treaties, it is not just governed by international law and political relationships based on agreement at intergovernmental level. The founding treaties of the Union which date back to the inception of the Communities in the 1950s insist that the law of the Union (which technically remains Community law) becomes part of the legal systems of all of the States who are members of the Union.

DOI link for There have been changes to institutions: some have had name changes (such as the ‘Assembly’ to ‘European Parliament’); some have had powers removed or added, and some have been relatively recently created (for example, the Committee of the Regions). It is therefore important to be clear about the construction of the EU, the place of the EC, its areas of legal competency and the extent and limits of EC law, name changes of institutions and treaties, and changes to the numbering of articles in the treaties. This introduction sets out the approach taken, and the terms to be used in this section with the reasons for their use explained. The section will also give a historical and chronological review of the development of the Union and the current place of the Community. This should enable you to read most texts in the area with a reasonably clear map of your own of the interconnections between the EU, the EC, EC law and their effects on the English legal system. For the rest of this section the following abbreviated terms will normally be used: • ‘Union’ when referring to the European Union; • ‘Community’ when referring to the European Community; • ‘Community law’ or ‘EC law’ when referring to European Community law. The relationship between the English legal system, the Union and the Community is complex. But then the very concept of the Union itself is complex. The Union was established in 1992 and currently there are 15 Member States, with 13 more candidate States waiting to join. There are three spheres of activity in the Union customarily referred to as the three ‘pillars’ of the Union. Pillar 1: the three founding Communities established in the 1950s: (a) the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); (b) the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); (c) European Economic Community (EEC), since 1992 called the European Community, which was set up by the EEC Treaty. Pillar 2: agreed co-operation in the area of foreign affairs and security. Pillar 3: agreed co-operation in the areas of home affairs and justice. It is a Union that is joined together not as a federal system of States, such as the United States of America, nor as a range of States contracting at only the political level. The Union is a supra-national Union of States agreeing to be bound together in part politically, in part co-operatively and socially and in large part through a unique legal order—the acquis communautaire (‘community patrimony’) or ‘Community law’. A legal order that has effect by being incorporated into the legal systems of every Member State, and the English legal system is no exception. The legal order of the Union remains rooted in that part of the Union that is the Community. It is the nature of the legal order that makes the Union unique. For although the Union is established by treaties, it is not just governed by international law and political relationships based on agreement at intergovernmental level. The founding treaties of the Union which date back to the inception of the Communities in the 1950s insist that the law of the Union (which technically remains Community law) becomes part of the legal systems of all of the States who are members of the Union.

There have been changes to institutions: some have had name changes (such as the ‘Assembly’ to ‘European Parliament’); some have had powers removed or added, and some have been relatively recently created (for example, the Committee of the Regions). It is therefore important to be clear about the construction of the EU, the place of the EC, its areas of legal competency and the extent and limits of EC law, name changes of institutions and treaties, and changes to the numbering of articles in the treaties. This introduction sets out the approach taken, and the terms to be used in this section with the reasons for their use explained. The section will also give a historical and chronological review of the development of the Union and the current place of the Community. This should enable you to read most texts in the area with a reasonably clear map of your own of the interconnections between the EU, the EC, EC law and their effects on the English legal system. For the rest of this section the following abbreviated terms will normally be used: • ‘Union’ when referring to the European Union; • ‘Community’ when referring to the European Community; • ‘Community law’ or ‘EC law’ when referring to European Community law. The relationship between the English legal system, the Union and the Community is complex. But then the very concept of the Union itself is complex. The Union was established in 1992 and currently there are 15 Member States, with 13 more candidate States waiting to join. There are three spheres of activity in the Union customarily referred to as the three ‘pillars’ of the Union. Pillar 1: the three founding Communities established in the 1950s: (a) the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); (b) the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom); (c) European Economic Community (EEC), since 1992 called the European Community, which was set up by the EEC Treaty. Pillar 2: agreed co-operation in the area of foreign affairs and security. Pillar 3: agreed co-operation in the areas of home affairs and justice. It is a Union that is joined together not as a federal system of States, such as the United States of America, nor as a range of States contracting at only the political level. The Union is a supra-national Union of States agreeing to be bound together in part politically, in part co-operatively and socially and in large part through a unique legal order—the acquis communautaire (‘community patrimony’) or ‘Community law’. A legal order that has effect by being incorporated into the legal systems of every Member State, and the English legal system is no exception. The legal order of the Union remains rooted in that part of the Union that is the Community. It is the nature of the legal order that makes the Union unique. For although the Union is established by treaties, it is not just governed by international law and political relationships based on agreement at intergovernmental level. The founding treaties of the Union which date back to the inception of the Communities in the 1950s insist that the law of the Union (which technically remains Community law) becomes part of the legal systems of all of the States who are members of the Union.