Transposition of EU equal treatment directive not without difficulty 21-02-2007 All EU Member States have now transposed the EU directive on equal treatment
into national law, but not without difficulty. This is one of the findings of a
European Commission report on the progress made with the implementation of the
directive, for the EU ministers of Justice and Home Affairs. The directive
protects all people against discrimination on the basis of their racial or
ethnic origin. It covers areas such as employment, social advantages,
healthcare, education and access to goods and services available to the public.
As the directive is now in force in all EU countries, local authorities need to
ensure that their policies are in agreement with the provisions of the
directive.
For most EU Member States, the transposition of the directive required fairly
extensive changes to existing legislation, or whole new acts. This may explain
the delays in transposition in some countries. In 2005, Germany, Austria,
Finland and Luxembourg were even referred to the EU Court of Justice for not
incorporating the provisions fully.
To ensure effective implementation and enforcement of the legislation, the
following issues need to be addressed in the coming years:
The report concludes that the directive has been a major step forward in the
fight against racial discrimination across the EU. The challenge for the coming
years will be to ensure the full and effective transposition, implementation and
enforcement of its provisions. However, the lack of ethnic data in most EU
Member States might hinder proper monitoring of the application of the
directive.
Source: European Information Service (EIS) Files back |
