This chapter examines when Member States can lawfully displace the obligations placed on them by free movement law. Free movement rights can be restricted under EU law in two ways. For discriminatory or distinctly applicable restrictive measures, a derogation ground expressly provided for in the TFEU must be engaged. For indirectly or non-discriminatory measures, that is, indistinctly applicable restrictive measures, if an overriding requirement relating to the public interest can be demonstrated the measure will be lawful. In both cases, the restriction also has to satisfy a proportionality test—that is, it is both appropriate and necessary for achieving the relevant public interest objective.
Chapter
16. Exceptions to the free movement rules
Niamh Nic Shuibhne
Chapter
17. Free Movement of Goods
This chapter examines the Treaty provisions designed to ensure free movement of goods within the European Union. It discusses prohibitions on quantitative restrictions, and on measures having equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions (MEQR) in Article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in particular considering the key cases of Dassonville, Cassis de Dijon and Keck. It also outlines the prohibition on quantitative restrictions on exports and all measures having equivalent effect. It analyses the development of the jurisprudence relating to MEQR, and explains the provisions of Articles 35 (exports) and 37 TFEU (state monopolies). The chapter also addresses the underlying questions concerning the relationship between free movement and national regulatory competence. Finally, the chapter examines the provisions of Article 36 TFEU containing the derogation from the free movement of goods and considers proportionality and disguised restriction on trade. It also discusses the CJ’s jurisprudence on the rule of reason.
Chapter
18. Free Movement of Payments and Capital
This chapter examines the rules concerning free movement of payment and capital within the European Union provided in Articles 63, 64, 65 and 66 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). It explains the scope of and derogations to the free movement of capital. The chapter also considers restrictions on free movement of capital between Member States and third countries. It highlights the willingness of the Court of Justice (CJ) to borrow principles (ie, rule of reason) from the other freedoms. This chapter also considers briefly the provisions relating to monetary and economic union and the developments in the light of the financial crisis.
