Acquis Acquis

Acquis - Definition and Overview

The term acquis (or sometimes acquis communautaire), deriving from French, is used in European Union law to refer to the total body of EU law accumulated so far. The term is also used to describe laws adopted under the Schengen treaty, prior to its integration into the European Union legal order by the Treaty of Amsterdam, in which case one speaks of the Schengen acquis.

Chapters of the Acquis

During the process of the enlargement of the European Union, the acquis is divided into 31 chapters for the purpose of negotiation between the EU and the candidate member states. These chapters are:

  1. Free movement of goods
  2. Free movement of persons
  3. Freedom to provide services
  4. Free movement of capital
  5. Company law
  6. Competition policy
  7. Agriculture
  8. Fisheries
  9. Transport policy
  10. Taxation
  11. Economic and Monetary Union
  12. Statistics
  13. Social policy and employment
  14. Energy
  15. Industrial policy
  16. Small and medium-sized enterprises
  1. Science and research
  2. Education and training
  3. Telecommunication and information technologies
  4. Culture and audio-visual policy
  5. Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments
  6. Environment
  7. Consumers and health protection
  8. Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs
  9. Customs union
  10. External relations
  11. Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
  12. Financial control
  13. Financial and budgetary provisions
  14. Institutions
  15. Others

Such negotiations usually involve granting transitory periods before the need on the part of new member states to fully implement the laws of the European Union.

Other uses

The term acquis has also been borrowed by the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, in the case Japan - Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages, to refer to the accumulation of GATT and WTO law ("acquis gattien"), though this usage is not well established.

It has also been used to describe the achievements of the Council of Europe (a body unconnected with the European Union):

The Council of Europe’s acquis in standard setting activities in the fields of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedoms should be considered as milestones towards the great European political project, and the European Court of Human Rights should be recognised as the pre-eminent judicial pillar of any future architecture.

(Section 12, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution 1290)

External links


Example Usage of Acquis
DjiaThink: le terrain est déja Acquis, l'autorisation d'ouverture signé du prefet aussi. Je devrais apporté 1e touche Ecolo, Green IT, social au projet
magzepass: @antwan_ Oui, c'est désormais Acquis : nouvelle date pour Muse le 11 juin 2010, et ouverture des ventes le 3 décembre !
cornelius102: Porter le voile, c’est tourner le dos à nos Acquis les plus sacrés:l’égalité entre les sexes |Second Regard|: http://bit.ly/68rPbP RT @cptic
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