The Legal Effects of EU Agreements

399 Pages·2013·2.35 MB·English

Oxford Studies in European Law
(cid:2)
General Editors: Paul Craig and Graı´nne de Burca
THE LEGAL EFFECTS OF EU AGREEMENTS
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Oxford Studies in European Law
SeriesEditors:PaulCraig,ProfessorofEnglishLaw
atStJohn’sCollege,OxfordandGra´innedeBu(cid:2)rca,ProfessorofLawatNewYorkUniversity
SchoolofLaw
TheaimofthisseriesistopublishimportantandoriginalresearchonEUlaw.Thefocusisonscholarly
monographs,withaparticularemphasisonthosewhichareinterdisciplinaryinnature.Editedcollectionsof
essayswillalsobeincludedwheretheyareappropriate.Theseriesiswideinscopeandaimstocoverstudiesof
particularareasofsubstantiveandofinstitutionallaw,historicalworks,theoreticalstudies,andanalysesofcurrent
debates,aswellasquestionsofperennialinterestsuchastherelationshipbetweennationalandEUlawandthe
novelformsofgovernanceemerginginandbeyondEurope.Thefactthatmanyoftheworksareinterdisciplinary
willmaketheseriesofinteresttoallthoseconcernedwiththegovernanceandoperationoftheEU.
EuropeanLawandNewHealthTechnologies
EditedbyMarkLFlear,Anne-MareeFarrell,TamaraKHervey,
andThe´re`seMurphy
TheEnforcementofEULaw
TheRoleoftheEuropeanCommission
StineAndersen
EuropeanAgencies
LawandPracticeofAccountability
MadalinaBusuioc
TheFoundationsofEuropeanUnionCompetitionLaw
TheObjectiveandPrinciplesofArticle102
RenatoNazzini
TheEmergenceofEUContractLaw
ExploringEuropeanization
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ParticipationinEURule-making
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JoanaMendes
RegulatingCartelsinEurope
SecondEdition
ChristopherHarding,JulianJoshua
ReligionandthePublicOrderoftheEuropeanUnion
RonanMcCrea
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EuropeanizationthroughPolicyCoordination
KennethA.Armstrong
JudicialControlintheEuropeanUnion
ReformingJurisdictionintheIntergovernmentalPillars
AliciaHinarejos
EUCounter-TerroristPoliciesandFundamentalRights
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ChristinaEckes
FromDualtoCooperativeFederalism
TheChangingStructureofEuropeanLaw
RobertSchu¨tze
ConflictsofRightsintheEuropeanUnion
ATheoryofSupranationalAdjudication
AidaTorresPe´rez
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The Legal Effects of EU
Agreements
Maximalist Treaty Enforcement and
Judicial Avoidance Techniques
MARIO MENDEZ
1
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Para mis padres
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PREFACE
MarioMendezhaswrittenanengagingandinformativeaccountofthelegal
effect accorded by the European Court of Justice to international agree-
mentsconcludedbytheEU.
Certain aspects of this subject have attracted a great deal of attention
frombothscholarsandpractitionersovertheyears,suchasthelegaleffects
of the GATT and WTO agreements in EU law. Mendez’s book however
tacklesthebroadersubjectofthelegaleffectsaccordedbytheCourttoall
manner of EU-concluded agreements, and places the GATT/WTO case
lawinthiswidercontext.
Thebookbegins,afterreflectingontheimportanceoftreatiesasasource
oflawtoday,withacontext-settingdiscussionofthewaysinwhichdomes-
ticcourtshavegenerallytreatedthelegaleffectofinternationalagreements.
Eschewing the familiar but often confusing terminology of monism and
dualism, Mendez identifies two broad judicial approaches to international
treaties which he terms automatic incorporation, and non-automatic
incorporation.HethenlooksatthefoundationalcasesinwhichtheCourt
of Justice articulated its approach to the legal effect of international
agreements.
He moves on in the core three chapters of the book to identify the
approach which the Court has taken to international agreements in three
broad fields: those of (a) association, cooperation, partnership, and trade
agreements (b) the GATT/WTO agreements, and (c) other non-trade
agreements. What emerges is a picture of a variegated set of strategies on
the part of the Court: using an automatic incorporation (and ‘maximal
enforcement’)approachinsomecircumstances,andtechniquesforjudicial
avoidance in others.The crucialdistinction, itemerges, between thecases
inwhichtheCourtadoptsamaximalistenforcementapproach,andthosein
which it uses techniques of judicial avoidance, is whether or not the case
involvesachallengetoMemberStateactionascomparedwithEUaction.
Mendez has written a valuable book, based on a substantial data set of
EuropeanCourtcaselaw,whichincludesthoroughdiscussionandappraisal
ofthecaselawoftheCourtofJusticeinthisimportantfield.Inadditional
to marshalling and analyzing this useful empirical body of case law, the
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viii Preface
bookprovidesadeftandauthoritativeevaluationandcritiqueoftheCourt’s
approachtointernationaltreatiesovertheyears.
Thisbookshouldbeofinteresttostudents,scholars,andpractitionersof
EU law alike, and to all of those interested in this aspect of the European
Court’scontributiontotheEU’semergenceasaglobalactor.
PaulCraig
Gra´innedeBu(cid:2)rca
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is a revised version of a PhD thesis defended at the European
University Institute in 2009. I am immensely grateful to my doctoral
supervisor, Graı´nne de Bu(cid:2)rca, for her considerable input into this project
and her support over the years. I am also grateful, for offering valuable
insights in relation to aspects of this work, to the following: Kenneth
Armstrong, Marise Cremona, Bruno de Witte, Piet Eeckhout, Robert
Howse, Christian Joerges, Pieter-Jan Kuijper, Marc Maresceau, Valsamis
Mitsilegas, Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, and the late Eric Stein (I will long
rememberbeingdriventhroughsnowyAnnArborbyamanalreadyintohis
tenth decade when going for a farewell drink as I finished a period as a
visiting researcher at the Law School of the University of Michigan). In
addition,anumberofcurrentandformerofficialsofthevariousEUinsti-
tutions gave generously of their time some years ago to discuss various
aspects of this work. I am also grateful for the constructive feedback from
theOUPreviewersandtoOUPmoregenerallyfortheirprofessionalismas
wellastheirpatience—NatashaFlemminginparticular—aschangestothe
manuscripttooklongertoimplementthanIhadanticipated.
IamverygratefultomyfriendsandcolleaguesatQueenMary,Univer-
sityofLondon.TheSchoolofLawhasbeenanexcellentplacetoworkand
accordedmethespacetocompletethePhDandresearchleavetoconvertit
intothisbook.MybiggestdebtofgratitudeisowedtoVirginieBarralwho,
aswellashavingreadandcommentedoneverychapter,hasdiscussedissues
pertainingtothisbookwithmeovermoreyearsthansheorIwouldcareto
remember.Bothsheandouryoungsonhavealsolivedwiththisprojectfor
some time and will perhaps be nearly as pleased as I am that it has finally
beencompleted.
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