The examination will be three hours in duration and candidates will be requested to answer four out of eight questions. Candidates should understand and be able to explain the legal basis of the European Union and its Institutions.

They should be able to assess the establishment and effect of a new legal order at European level, and its inter-relationship with the Irish legal system. They should understand the legislation making process and have a thorough knowledge of the case law of the ECJ/CFI (now renamed “the General Court”) in the areas covered by the syllabus.

Candidates in particular should ensure that they are familiar with the Four Freedoms and the case law associated with those Freedoms, as some of these key Freedoms always feature significantly in the examination.

The subject can be divided as follows:

1. Sources of Community Law
   
   1. Primary Sources - the Treaties establishing the European Community, in particular the EEC Treaty, the Single European Act 1986, the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), the Amsterdam Treaty, the Nice Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty.
   2. Secondary Legislation - Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendations and Opinions
   3. Amendment and Revision of the EC Treaties.
2. The European Union Institutions, with special emphasis on
   
   1. the legislation making process; and
   2. the jurisdiction and powers of the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance) and the European Court of Justice
3. General Principles of Law, with special emphasis on:
   
   1. Fundamental Human Rights
   2. Equality of Treatment/Non Discrimination
   3. Legal Certainty
   4. Proportionality
   5. Right to a Hearing
   6. Principle of Legitimate Expectation
   7. Subsidiarity
4. Judicial review of EU law and its enforcement, in particular actions for annulment of an act of an EU institution and preliminary references from national courts.
5. The Supremacy of EU law and its relationship with national law:
   
   1. The direct effect of EU law and direct applicability of EU law
   2. Preliminary references to the European Court of Justice
   3. The application and enforcement of EU law
   4. Acts and Statutory Instruments necessary to implement EU law including the European Communities Act 1972 and the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1973
   5. The process of EU legislation making
   6. State liability for non-implementation and mal-implementation
6. Substantive rules governing the free movement of goods to include:
   
   1. Customs Duties and Charges of Equivalent Effect
   2. Prohibition of Quantitative Restrictions and derogations from
   3. Internal Taxation  
7. Substantive rules governing free movement of natural or legal persons to include:
   
   1. Free Movement of Workers
   2. Freedom of Establishment
   3. Freedom to provide and to receive Services
   4. Limitations on Free Movement
8. Free Movement of Capital and Payments
9. EU Competition Law - a detailed understanding will be required of both private sector competition and public sector competition rules and jurisprudence.
10. The Regulation of State Aids
11. EU Social Policy with special emphasis on gender-based equality, in particular in relation to Equal Pay and Equal Treatment.

Legislative sources

Candidates are permitted to bring unmarked copies of any edition of the following publications into the examination as legislative sources:

• The Consolidated European Community Treaties, including the Single European Act and the Treaty on European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; or 
• Foster, (Ed), Blackstone’s EU Treaties and Legislation; or
• Conor Duff and Anthony Walsh, European Union Treaties and related secondary legislation (Clarus Press 2020).

Recommended reading

Candidates are recommended to have studied in detail the relevant sections from the following selection of texts:

• Barnard & Peers, EU Law, 4^th Ed., (2023) Oxford University Press.
• Cahill, Kennedy, Power, European Law, 5^th Ed., (2012), Oxford University Press.
• Hartley, The Foundations of European Community Law, 8th Ed., (2016), Oxford   
• University Press.
• Steiner & Woods, Textbook on EU Law, 15^th Ed, (2023), Oxford University Press.
• Craig & De Burca, EC Law: Text, Cases & Materials, 8^th Ed., (2024), Oxford University Press.
• Chalmers, Davies and Monti, EU Law, 5^th Ed., (2024), Cambridge University Press.