Legal instruments
Regulations, directives and decisions are the most important legal instruments in EU law. They are binding.
Recommendations and opinions are not legally binding.
Only the European Community can use legal instruments.
The European Union may not, because it has no legal personality.
The future
The Convention on the Future of Europe proposes the following six legal instruments:
- European law (replacing the Regulations)
- European framework law (replacing the directives)
- European regulations (new legal instrument to be used as delegated or implementing regulations)
- decisions
- Recommendations
- opinions
Links
See also euabc.com pdf file on decision-making according to the EU Constitution.
http://www.euabc.com/upload/pdf/legal_instruments.pdf
