ABSTRACT
Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides that the activities of the Union include, inter alia:
• the establishment of an internal market free of all internal tariffs; • the abolition of measures obstructing the free movement of goods, persons, services
and capital;
• common policies relating to agriculture and fisheries, commerce and transport; • environmental protection; • strengthening consumer and health protection; • forming associations with overseas countries to increase trade and jointly promote
economic and social development;
• strengthening economic and social cohesion; • the promotion of research and technological development. A unique legal order
The European Union is the creation of the original EEC Treaty, as amended. European Union law, however, is not international law as normally understood in the sense of merely establishing mutual obligations between contracting states. In addition to creating mutual obligations between Member States, EU law also involves the transfer of sovereign rights to the institutions of that system and the creation of rights and obligations for their citizens which are enforceable in their local courts. The EU is, therefore, a unique constitutional entity, having its own institutions and law making powers, capable of creating rights and duties within the legal systems of the Member States. The law making powers of the EU Institutions, as will be seen below, are far reaching. When duties are imposed on Member States, these may imply rights for individuals which may be enforced in the domestic courts and ultimately in the Court of Justice, the EU’s judicial forum.
