ABSTRACT
Adopted on 29 June 2000, the Racial Equality Directive is the first piece of legislation taken under Article 13 EC and should have been transposed into the national legal systems of the Member States by 19 July 2003, an implementation deadline earlier than the Framework Employment Directive or the Equal Treatment (Amendment) Directive. The judicial approach towards cases arising under the Directive will involve an interweaving of principles evolved previously within the field of gender equality in employment and occupation (such as those on positive action and indirect discrimination) with the Directive's own provisions. International human rights law should be cemented as a source of inspiration for EU law through decisions under the Racial Equality Directive. The Court should draw on the Charter's equality provision, but also international instruments such as the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, whose normative influence is after all recognised in the Racial Equality Directive.
