CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

ONDREJ HAMUĽÁK CYIL 11 (2020) processes. Second part is devoted to selected questions of the application of the EU Charter, which includes interesting up-to-date case studies on different contemporary issues. The general part opens with a chapter entitled The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU in the practice of the European legislative process (by Jan Grinc). This chapter deals with a topic that is somewhat overlooked, namely, the general obligation of the EU institutions to respect the rights protected by the EU Charter in all their activities and, above all, in the drafting and adoption of EU law acts. The chapter points out that in a very complicated and multi-layered EU legislative process, the obligation to take into account the EU Charter is either neglected or only solved by laconic references, without an in-depth analysis of possible impacts on particular fundamental rights. At the same time, it is also focused on deficits within the judicial review of the legality of EU acts, which deepen the low “enforceability” of the EU Charter as the compulsory part of the legislative process. Here, the chapter forms a consistent “vanguard” for the part devoted to the influence of the EU Charter on the review of the validity of Union acts (chapter 4, EU Charter as a reference framework for reviewing the validity of EU acts by Magdaléna Svobodová). In both chapters, the need for increased emphasis on ex ante and ex post consideration of the EU Charter as a criterion of the constitutionality of EU legislation is emphasized. Theoretical (or static) analyses of these issues is further supplemented by practical case studies, which serve as confirmation of questioned deficits and as an interesting insight into the complex issues of the EU law-making processes (chapter 2, Emphasising the EU Charter within formation of Common European asylum system by Karolina Gyurovszká and chapter 3, Selected issues of emphasising the EU Charter in EU legislation by Jan Grinc). The law-making “story” within the Union does not only a supranational dimension, but in most cases, it also gives rise to a national rejoinder in the form of implementation or the direct application of EU rules. These dimensions of the Charter´s impact are analysed in chapter 5, Legislation and the scope of EU Charter – the main problematic issues from the perspective of Czech practice by Bohumil Peterka; and in chapter 6, The impact of EU Charter in purely domestic situations by Petr Mádr. Especially the later chapter opens the very important discussion on crossing the limits of the scope of application of the EU Charter as settled in its Article 51(1) (and relevant case law) and associated questions of the relationship between EU law and national fundamental rights standards. It´s worth mentioning here, that Petr Mádr offers very deep insight to many examples of so called “side effects” of the Charter and develops the continuous debates in this field. A special part of the book contains a selection of particular topics which are evaluated from the perspective of the impact of EU Charter thereof. The experience of the first decade since the EU Charter became legally binding demonstrates the thesis of the significant influence of the Union catalogue on the developments of many different fields of EU law. At the same time, however, the recent developments demonstrate that the EU Charter is not an exhaustive catalogue and that modern (digital) times pose significant challenges before it. Here, in particular, the book offers very beneficial analyses of interactions and the significance of the EU Charter for digital rights and the phenomenon of the digital revolution in general (chapter 7, The significance of the EU Charter in cyberspace by Eliška Jonášová; and chapter 8, “Digital” fundamental rights in the hands of private entities in the light of EU Charter by Tomáš Ochodek). These chapters, on the one hand, offers an important analysis of the deficits that the EU Charter has (and may have) in relation to the protection of rights within cyberspace,

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