What are the distinctions between Regulations, Directives and Decisions in the Law of the European Union?

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2(a)        What are the distinctions between Regulations, Directives and Decisions in the Law of the European Union?

        

Regulations, Directives and Decisions are all forms of secondary legislation created by the European Union, whereas primary legislation consists of the treaties upon which they are based, the most important being the Treaty of Rome made in 1957 which created the European Economic Community and Euratom.

Secondary EU legislation is created by the Council of Ministers of the European Union, based on proposals by the European Commission.  The Council of Ministers is the legislative body of the European Union.

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The first form of EU secondary legislation is a regulation. This is a general measure that is binding in all its parts and is also directly applicable.  In other words, it creates law which takes immediate effect in all the Member States in the same way that an Act of Parliament will take effect in the UK, without any further legislation needing to be created.  Examples of regulations include those determining rights of workers, the new ‘.eu’ domain name and the new ‘Community Design Right’ which confers rights to intellectual property.

A Directive, by contrast, is binding upon ...

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