General Principles of EU Law and EU Administrative Law

Treaty provisions and Union legislation are only part of the story of how law can actually take effect in reality. A quite decisive factor is their implementation through administrative action. The basic themes of this chapter are, first, the steps which take place after legislation has been passed: who does what and by which means to make sure that political decisions made in a legislative act do not only remain ‘law on the books’? The second theme is which rights exist in that context? How can they be protected? In other words, this chapter deals not only with the sub-legislative setting of rules and making of decisions, it also asks which principles and rules exist to ensure the legality and legitimacy of administrative action implementing EU law.