EU legislative process

This subtopic contains a range of resources relating to EU legislative process, procedures and principles relevant to the types of legislation which fall under the umbrella of EU law, including:

  1. EU Treaties (and all their amendments)

  2. Regulations

  3. Directives

  4. Decisions

  5. Opinions and Recommendations

  6. Tertiary legislation (including implementing and delegated legislation)

EU law is developed further by the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and legal principles developed by it.

The EU is based on the rule of law. Actions taken by the EU are founded on Treaties approved voluntarily and democratically by all Member States. Under the principle of conferral, if a policy area is not cited in a treaty, the European Commission cannot propose a law in that area as it is not an EU competence.

There are different types of EU legal documents. A treaty is a binding agreement betweenMember States setting out EU objectives, rules for relevant EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its Member States. Amendments allow for EU enlargement, and areas of co-operation.

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Latest EU Law News

EU Law weekly highlights—24 July 2025

This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes analyses on the decision of the EU court for privacy activist Lisa Ballmann to access files in the Meta case, the EU trade mark dispute on Iceland foods which lost over link to nation's name, the Commission’s guidelines on the EU AI Act’s rules for general-purpose AI models, the final version of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, the country's first national collective database to be licensed for training AI formed by a group of Dutch media outlets, the Commission’s guidelines for the protection of minors online and a Market Insights Trend Report’s analysis on the sustainability disclosures and climate transition plans. In addition this week, the Commission proposed a new Multiannual Financial Framework, published the July 2025 infringement package, initiated procedures to adopt new adequacy decisions for EU-UK personal data transfers, initiated a call for evidence seeking input on a future omnibus package to simplify environmental legislation, published an Explanatory Notice and Template to guide providers of General Purpose AI models and launched a consultation for its proposed Digital Fairness Act. Further, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation modifying the Entry/Exit System implementation framework, adopted a regulation postponing the application of due diligence obligations under the EU Batteries Regulation and adopted amendments to extend the gas storage regulation by two years beyond its current 2025 expiry date.

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