The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights was adopted in Nice in December 2000 as a political declaration. It contains 54 articles mainly collected from the European Convention on Human Rights.
The EU Court said it was willing to take the Charter into account in its judgements, even if it was not made legally binding. The EU Court has already referred to the Charter in several cases.
Notes
The Charter was established by the special Convention consisting of 30 representatives from national Parliaments, 16 from the EU Parliament, one from the EU Commission, and one from each of the 15 governments.The future
The EU Constitution proposes to include the Charter in the proposed EU Constitution as legally binding - as part 2. The Draft Constitution recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter, which constitute the second part of the constitution (Article I-7).Links
See also the Convention working group on the Charter