European Business Law, the fourth volume in our series, shows how the European authorities simultaneously abolish all restrictions on access to and exercise of economic activities and support the growth of domestic markets, through the harmonization the internal legislation or the enactment of genuinely unified regulations.

European Business Law

Unlike directives, which are addressed to the Member States and decisions, which are addressed to specific recipients, regulations are addressed to everyone. Adopted jointly by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament or by the European Commission alone, they constitute general legal instruments which are binding in their entirety. A regulation is directly applicable and takes immediate effect in all the Member States in the same way as a national law, without any further action necessary on the part of the national authorities. Unlike directives and norms contained in the Treaties, regulations may in principle be directly relied on by citizens. In practice, this principle has exceptions since regulations do not all carry the same normative effectiveness: in effect, some provisions include more guidance than rights and obligations for citizens; other provisions sometimes need to be supplemented by implementing regulations.

As legal instruments, European regulations are part of the “positive economic integration” by setting up the frameworks for economic activity. Some regulations create new institutions, whose common feature is to develop their effects on the whole of the European territory, e.g. Regulation No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (SE) , Regulation No 2137/85 of 25 July 1985 on the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) , Regulation No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 on Community designs or amended Regulation No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009  on the Community trademark . Except as regards the latter, which has been at the origin of extensive litigation serving as a guide to analysis for the interpretation of the “Trademark” Directive (see No 22.02 et seq.), these institutions have only had very relative success as their use depends on the choices made by operators. Their interest is more specifically in respect of the special rights concerned. Other regulations contribute more directly to the completion of the internal market: i.e. not merely adding European legal instruments to the national regulations in force, but have as their object either the extension of the effects of those national institutions to the whole internal market, or protection of the latter against disruptive behavior.

The Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968 , replaced by Regulation No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 , itself repealed and replaced by Regulation No 1215/2012 of 12 December 2012 , illustrates the first method in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters;  Anti-dumping Regulation No 2016/1036 of 8 June 2016  and Anti-subsidies Regulation No 2016/1037 of 8 June 2016 , illustrate the second method.

Amended by Regulation No 2015/2424 of 16 December 2015 (OJ L 341 of 24 December 2015), which entered into force on 23 March 2016.

OJ L 11 of 14 January 1994; amending Regulation No 422/2004 of 19 February 2004, OJ L 70 of 9 March 2004.

OJEU L 351 of 20 December 2012. Regulation No 1215/2012 came into force on 10 January 2013 and will apply directly in all Member States from 10 January 2015 with the exception of Articles 75 and 76, which are applicable as of 10 January 2014. Article 66 of Regulation No 1215/2012 provides:"This regulation shall apply only to legal proceedings instituted, to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered and to court settlements approved or concluded on or after 10 January 2015".

308. Context