Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

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Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
The preamble of the Charter
Purpose	Enshrine certain ethical principles and rights for citizens

Minibook published by the European Union containing the text of the Charter

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The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is a document enshrining certain fundamental rights.

The wording of the document has been agreed at ministerial level and was incorporated into the draft Constitution for Europe, and later the Lisbon Treaty that replaced it, although the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic has opted out of this part of the treaty. The Charter will have the force of law effective from 1 December 2009.

[edit] Origin

The European Court of Justice decided in 1996 that the treaties establishing the European Community do not empower it to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, this despite all EC/EU member states being signatories to the Convention (Opinion 2/94 "Accession by the Community to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" of 28 March 1996).

Following this, the Cologne European Council (3/4 June 1999) entrusted the task of drafting the Charter to a Convention.[1] The Convention held its constituent meeting in December 1999 and adopted the draft on 2 October 2000. The Biarritz European Council (13/14 October 2000) unanimously approved the draft and forwarded it to the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The European Parliament gave its agreement on 14 November 2000 and the Commission on 6 December 2000. The Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission signed and proclaimed the Charter on behalf of their institutions on 7 December 2000 in Nice. Thus the aforementioned three institutions of the European Union (Council, Commission, and Parliament) decided that the Charter is the appropriate format (for the moment) of presenting the fundamental principles of human rights for the Union.

After the solemn proclamation by these three institutions in 2000 and before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, the Charter was not a treaty, constitutional, or legal document, and has the sui generis value of a ‘solemn proclamation’ by three of the Union’s most important institutions. Its text was mainly in harmony with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, and therefore could be taken as a confirmation (by the Council, Commission, and Parliament) of the pre-existing rights contained therein, while adding widely-accepted principles such as the ‘right’ to good administration, workers’ social rights, and bioethics. The Charter’s ‘power’ or ‘effect’, if it had any, might be only these:

• The proclaiming institutions (and other institutions such as the European Court of Justice^{[dubious – discuss]}) were unlikely to contradict the Charter, since they had ‘solemnly proclaimed’ it.
• Common law, Community law, and case law were generally in harmony with it, so there was little probability of conflict.

Until the Treaty of Lisbon enters into force, the Charter does not have the status of Community law. Therefore, cases cannot be brought solely on the ground of a contravention of the Charter.

[edit] Status

Following the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 the Charter will have the same legal value as the European Union Treaties, according to the amended Article 6(1) of the Treaty on European Union. It will therefore become one of the fundamental texts of the EU legal architecture.

[edit] As part of the proposed Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe

Part II of the proposed European Constitution was signed in October 2004 but failed to be ratified after referendum defeats in France and the Netherlands. The intention was to enable the European Union to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, thus enabling the European Court of Human Rights to rule on the basis of this Convention.

[edit] As part of the Treaty of Lisbon

The Treaty of Lisbon that has been signed in December 2007 makes a reference to the Charter. The Charter was slightly modified before the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, to make it resemble the text that was part of the rejected European Constitution.

The revised text of the Charter, that will become part of the law of the European Union when the Lisbon Treaty enters into force on 1 December 2009 was proclaimed by the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Commission at Strasbourg on 12 December 2007. The Lisbon Treaty was signed on the next day.

The article of the Treaty of Lisbon referring to the Charter reads as follows:

The Union recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 7 December 2000, as adapted at Strasbourg, on 12 December 2007, which shall have the same legal value as the Treaties.

The Treaty enters into force on 1 December 2009 after the ratification process became complete, making the Charter legally binding, with the same force as the Treaties upon which the Union is founded.

The United Kingdom, Poland, and the Czech Republic have interpretations of the treaty as described in their attached protocol. The protocol limits justiciability of the charter in UK and Poland. In practice this means that European Courts cannot force changes to laws on labour rights in Britain and on individual rights – such as same-sex marriage or abortion – in Poland. The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has also negotiated an opt-out from the Charter without which, he feared, Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after WWII could claim property back.^[1] The Czech opt-out is not, however, included in the Treaty of Lisbon itself, but will form part of a future treaty, probably the Croatian accession treaty.

[edit] Preamble and notable provisions

Its preamble reads:

The peoples of Europe, in creating an ever closer union among them, are resolved to share a peaceful future based on common values.

Conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice.

The Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the Member States and the organisation of their public authorities at national, regional and local levels; it seeks to promote balanced and sustainable development and ensures free movement of persons, goods, services and capital, and the freedom of establishment.

To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights in the light of changes in society, social progress and scientific and technological developments by making those rights more visible in a Charter.

This Charter reaffirms, with due regard for the powers and tasks of the Community and the Union and the principle of subsidiarity, the rights as they result, in particular, from the constitutional traditions and international obligations common to the Member States, the Treaty on European Union, the Community Treaties, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Social Charters adopted by the Community and by the Council of Europe and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and of the European Court of Human Rights.

Enjoyment of these rights entails responsibilities and duties with regard to other persons, to the human community and to future generations.

The Union therefore recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out hereafter.

The Charter is organized into 6 titles: dignity, freedoms, equality, solidarity, citizens’ rights, and justice. The second, third, and fourth rubrics reflect the three generations of human rights after Karel Vasak.

• (Article 2.2) Prohibition of the death penalty.
• (Article 3) Prohibition of reproductive cloning of human beings
• (Article 8) Protection of personal data, right to obtain and rectify personal data
• (Article 53) ‘Nothing in this Charter shall be interpreted as restricting or adversely affecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognised, in their respective fields of application, by Union law and international law and by international agreements to which the Union, the Community or all the Member States are party, including the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and by the Member States' constitutions.’

[edit] See also

• Four Freedoms
• Fundamental right
• Capital punishment in the European Union
• Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms (Czech Republic and Slovakia)

[edit] References

• Xenophon A. Yataganas. The Treaty of Nice: The sharing of power and the institutional balance in the European Union – a continental perspective. 7 European Law Journal (2001) 242 at 281 to 284.

1. ^ BBC News (2009-11-24): Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charte des droits fondamentaux

• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (and in PDF format).
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union as adapted at Lisbon
• European Parliament’s explanation of the Charter
• Detailed Guide to the EU Charter
• Official FAQs
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union European Navigator
• EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.