Position and Efect of International Treaties in EC Law

The conclusion of the European Association Agreement between Czech Republic on the one side and the European Community and its member states on the other side brought about the question of the position of international agreements conc­luded by the Community within the framework of EC law. Therefore, the essay is focused on international treaties concluded by the European Community, especially it analyses their position and their legal effect in the European Community law.

The position of international treaties within the Community legal order originates in their extra-community character. That nature is also decisive for placing them between primary and secondary sources of EC law. Thus international treaties concluded by the European Community have to comply with basic treaties (i.e. EC Treaty, ECSC Treaty, ECAE Treaty), on the one side. On the other side acts of secondary legislation (i.e. regulations, directives, decisions of the institutions of the European Communities) have to comply with those international treaties.

The legal effects of international treaties as a part of the Community legal order are analysed from the point of view of direct effect of EC law. The principle of direct effect is one of the leading principles of the Community legal order. It means that not only the member states and the Communities but individual as well derive rights and obligations from the Community law. However, standard requirements of direct effect of EC law, as they were developed by the European Court of Justice, cannot be applied entirely to international treaties. As it is shown by judgments of the Court there are special criteria for analyses of direct effect of international treaties provisions.