CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ

THE CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION …

THE CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION VIS-À-VIS THE MEMBER STATES – SCOPE OF ITS APPLICATION IN THE VIEW OF THE CJEU Ondrej Hamuľák and Ján Mazák Abstract: This article deals with one of the most debated and fundamental issues that are associated with the adoption of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Charter builds on pre-Lisbon jurisprudence, and among the addressees of the obligation to respect fundamental rights includes also the Member States. This introduces a further federative element into EU law and could serve as a unifying factor for the protection of fundamental rights in the EU. However, the key clause of Article 51 (1) introduces only the relative binding nature of the Charter for Member States when it stipulates that Member States are obliged to respect the Charter “only when they implement” EU law. This provision is linked to a number of questions and interpretative problems. The authors of the text draw a closer look and analyse the CJEU key case-law from recent years, which is devoted to understanding of that limiting clause. Resumé : Tento článek se věnuje jedné z nejdiskutovanějších a nejpodstatnějších otázek, které jsou spojovány s přijetím Listiny základních práv EU. Charta navazuje na před-lisa- bonskou judikaturu a mezi adresáty povinnosti respektovat základní práva řadí i členské státy. To zavádí do evropského práva další federativní prvek a může sloužit jako sjednoco- vatel standardů ochrany základních práv. Klíčové ustanovené článku 51(1) ale zavádí pouze relativní závaznost Listiny pro členské státy, když stanoví, že státy jsou povinny respektovat Listinu “pouze pokud uplatňují” právo EU. Toto ustanovení je spojeno s množstvím otázek a výkladových problémů. Autoři textu přibližují a analyzují klíčovou judikaturu Soudního dvora z posledních let, která je věnována pochopení uvedeného limitujícího ustanovení. Key words: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Member States, article 51(1), scope of the Charter, implementing of EU law, Court of Justice, case-law. On the Authors: Ondrej Hamuľák is a senior lecturer and member of the Jean Monnet Chair in EU law at the Faculty of Law, Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic), visiting professor at Tallinn Law School of Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and researcher at the Faculty of Law, Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). He participated in the work on this paper on behalf of project no. 17-22322S “The Influence of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU on the Constitutional Law of the Visegrad Group Countries” funded by the Czech Science Foundations (GAČR). Email: ondrej.hamulak@upol.cz. Ján Mazák is a professor of European and Civil law at the Faculty of Law, Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Košice, Slovak Republic; former President of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Email: jan.mazak@upjs.sk.

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