page_title: Outline of the European Union
section_title: Law and policy
hierarchical_section_title: Outline of the European Union / Law and policy
caption_attribution_description: English: Europe GDP per capita (PPP). Figures taken from CIA World Factbook March 2007 (see here). Map colorized with a custom colorizing script. Nederlands: Europa BBP per capita (PPP). Bron van de cijfers is het CIA World Factbook maart 2007 (zie hier (en)). Kaart ingekleurd met behulp van een aangepast inkleurscript.
context_page_description: The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the European Union:
  The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. With 500 million citizens, the EU combined generates an estimated 30% share of the nominal gross world product. The EU has seven principal decision making bodies known as the Institutions of the European Union, while the adoption of laws and coordination of EU policies is the role of the Council of the European Union which currently meets in ten different configurations.
context_section_description: Treaties of the European Union – Founding and amending treaties (primary legislation)
  Treaty of Paris (1951)
  Treaty of Rome (1957)
  Merger Treaty (1965)
  Single European Act (1986)
  Maastricht Treaty (1992)
  Amsterdam Treaty (1997)
  Treaty of Nice (2001)
  Treaty of Accession 2003
  Treaty of Accession 2005
  Treaty of Lisbon (2007)
  Treaty of Accession 2011
  Related documents
  Schengen Agreement
  Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
  Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
  EU Policy Areas
  Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (Euro)
  European Political Cooperation
  Common Agricultural Policy
  Common Fisheries Policy
  Regional policy of the European Union
  Trans-European Networks
  Energy
  European Union law
  Acquis communautaire
  Official Journal of the European Union
  EU competition law (see also Antitrust, Cartel, Economics, Microeconomics, Perfect competition, Industrial organization, Game theory)
  Forms of Secondary Legislation
  Directive
  Regulation
  Recommendation
  Topics of Secondary Legislation
  Copyright law of the European Union
  Directives and Regulations of Secondary Legislation:
  Societas Europaea
  Protected designation of origin
  Unitary patent
  Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals
  Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights
  Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data
  Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection
caption: A map of the per capita GDP in the European Union and the rest of Europe (2007)
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