EUoikeutta

EUoikeutta, or EU law, refers to the system of law that governs the European Union and its member states. It comprises the rules derived from EU treaties and from secondary legislation enacted under those treaties, as well as the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. EU law lays down rights and obligations that apply across the Union and, in many cases, directly in the member states.

The sources of EU law are divided into primary and secondary law. Primary law consists of the EU treaties, which establish the competences of the Union and the framework of its institutions. Secondary law includes regulations, directives, decisions, and, to a lesser extent, recommendations and opinions. The Court of Justice interprets and enforces EU law, ensuring its uniform application.

Key features include the primacy of EU law over conflicting national law, the direct effect of many EU provisions, and the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality that constrain EU action to what is necessary to achieve objectives. Institutions involved in making and interpreting EU law are the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union, with the Court of Justice ensuring consistent interpretation.

EU law covers broad policy areas such as the internal market and the four freedoms (goods, persons, services, and capital), competition policy and state aid rules, external trade, environmental, consumer, and social policy, and area of freedom, security and justice in matters of asylum and immigration.

Finland joined the EU in 1995, and since then EU law has been part of the Finnish legal system. In practice, national courts apply EU law and must set aside conflicting national provisions.