Pedro Petiz Viana (Grasp in Regulation and Informatics from UMinho / LL.M. in European Regulation from Leiden College / EU Affairs Advisor within the Portuguese Parliament)
Beneath Articles 258 and 260(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and in accordance with the precept of honest cooperation laid down in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), Member States have the duty to inform the European Fee of the nationwide measures transposing a Directive.
As affirmed by the Courtroom of Justice of the European Union, this notification should “include sufficiently clear and exact data on the substance of the nationwide guidelines which transpose a Directive”,[1] in order that the Fee is able to confirm whether or not the Member State has genuinely and utterly applied the Directive.[2]
As acknowledged by the Courtroom in Fee v. Belgium, this notification could embody a “correlation desk”.[3] The European Fee, in its “Higher Regulation Tips” additionally affirmed that this obligation to speak could embody the so-called “correspondence tables”.[4] [5]
Beneath Portuguese nationwide legislation, particularly, underneath the framework on the organisation and functioning of the XXIII constitutional authorities,[6] it’s established that the transposition of normative acts of the European Union (“EU”) by the Authorities is accompanied by a desk of correspondence between the provisions of the Directive to be transposed and the corresponding nationwide transposition.[7] These transposition tables are drafted by the “Direção Geral de Assuntos Europeus” (Directorate Common for European Affairs) belonging to the Ministry of Overseas Affairs.
On the premise of parliamentary requests, the Portuguese authorities has made public the transposition tables that accompanied the transposition of Directives for the reason that starting of its mandate.[8] This documentation permits residents to get a glimpse of how European legislation is transposed in observe.
Picture 1 – Correlation Desk on the Transposition of Directive 2019/882 by the Portuguese Authorities
Picture 2 – Correlation Desk on the Transposition of Directive 2019/1937 by the Portuguese Authorities
As well as, underneath its earlier legislature, the Portuguese parliament unanimously authorized two legislative initiatives (Projeto de Lei n.º 453/XV/1[9] and Projeto de Lei n.º 547/XV/1),[10] which have established that the federal government shall ahead to the parliament these correspondence tables, after they’ve been communicated to the European Fee underneath Article 260(3) of the TFEU.
As established underneath Article 5(1)(m) of Lei n.º 43/2006, de 25 de agosto, as amended by Lei 44/2023, de 14 de agosto,[11] the federal government is now legally obliged to tell the parliament, underneath its data duties on European affairs, on the transposition tables regarding EU Directives.
The supply of transposition tables has been repeatedly requested by the European Parliament. In its decision of 12 April 2016, “In the direction of higher regulation of the Single Market”,[12] the European Parliament affirmed the significance of correspondence tables in monitoring the right utility of European legislation, calling on Member States to publish them.
In its decision of 9 July 2008 on the function of the nationwide decide within the European judicial system,[13] the European Parliament had already declared its help for the publication of correlation tables, on the premise that they permit for the provision of “useful data at minimal price and expense”, a rise in “transparency within the utility of Group legislation” and “supply nationwide judges and events to proceedings an affordable alternative to confirm for themselves whether or not a specific nationwide provision underlies sure provisions of Group legislation and, in that case, whether or not it has been transposed in such a manner as to make sure that it’s in conformity with Group legislation”.
This legislative initiative by the Portuguese parliament subsequently constitutes a optimistic improvement for the implementation of EU Regulation in Portugal.
Portuguese legislation now permits for a higher transparency within the transposition of EU Directives, with the Assembleia da República now being higher geared up to imagine its function, as prescribed underneath Article 12 TEU, to “contribute actively to the great functioning of the Union”.
[1] Fee v Belgium, [2019], ECLI:EU:C:2019:573, Par. 50 and 51.
[2] Fee v Italy, [2005], ECLI:EU:C:2005:388, par. 27.
[3] Fee v Belgium. [2019], ECLI:EU:C:2019:573, Par. 51.
[4] COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Higher Regulation Tips, SWD(2021) 305 ultimate, Out there at https://knowledge.consilium.europa.eu/doc/doc/ST-14004-2021-INIT/en/pdf, web page 40.
[5] The expression “correlation desk”, “correspondence desk” and “transposition desk” might be used interchangeably.
[6] Decree-Regulation no. 32/2022 of Might 9, Article 55, no. 5.
[7] “5 – Os projetos de transposição de atos normativos da União Europeia devem ser acompanhados de uma tabela de correspondências entre as disposições da diretiva a transpor e a correspondente transposição nacional.” in Decree-Regulation no. 32/2022 of Might 9, Article 55, no. 5.
[8] https://www.parlamento.pt/ActividadeParlamentar/Paginas/DetalhePerguntaRequerimento.aspx?BID=123758
[9] https://www.parlamento.pt/ActividadeParlamentar/Paginas/DetalheIniciativa.aspx?BID=152208
[10] https://www.parlamento.pt/ActividadeParlamentar/Paginas/DetalheIniciativa.aspx?BID=152418
[11] “m) Tabelas de correspondência relativas aos procedimentos de transposição de diretiva, após a sua comunicação à Comissão Europeia.” in Article 2 of Lei 44/2023, de 14 de agosto, out there at https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/lei/44-2023-219915286
[12] European Parliament decision of 12 April 2016 on In the direction of improved single market regulation (2015/2089(INI)), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016IP0105
[13] European Parliament decision of 9 July 2008 on the function of the nationwide decide within the European judicial system (2007/2027(INI)), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc/TA-6-2008-0352_EN.html.
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