Horizontal Effect of Rights in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU

Centre of European Law

The Dickson Poon School of Law

 

Horizontal Effect of Rights in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU

Ten years after its formal entry into force, the effects of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU legal system become more and more visible. The CJEU is turning into a European fundamental rights court. The scope of those rights is even broader if they are applied not only in the vertical relationship between public authority and the citizens, but also in the horizontal relationship between private individuals. In human rights systems with a long tradition, this is a core doctrinal problem. Recent case law of the CJEU shows that the Court may underestimate the complexity of the matter, which is not settled in the text of the Charter itself. There is real risk of curtailing individual freedom and encroaching upon the Member States's competences which may explain reactions such as the German Federal Constitutional Court's that recently claimed its jurisdiction with reference to the Charter rights - in a 'horizontal' case.

 

About the Speaker: Professor Dr. Matthias Ruffert

Born 1966; 1987-1992 Legal Studies in Passau, Trier (both Germany) and London (King's College); 1992/1993 Stagiaire at the European Commission (DG XI – Environment); 1994-1996 Legal Traineeship; 1996 Dr. iur. in Trier, Assistant of Prof. Dr. Meinhard Schröder, 2000 Dr. iur. habil. in Trier; 2002-2016 Professor of Public Law, European Law and Public International Law at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany; Visiting Professor at the Université de Paris XI, Sceaux (2006), the Université Toulouse 1 Capitole (2016) and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2017); 2011-2014 Jean Monnet Professor, 2013-2016 Academic Co-ordinator of a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence; 2006-2016 Judge at the Administrative Court of Appeal of Thuringia; 2010-2015 Member of the Thuringian Constitutional Court; 2008-2016 Member of the Review Board “Jurisprudence” of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German National Science Foundation (from 2010 onwards as spokesperson); since April 2016 Professor of Public Law and European Law at the Law Faculty of the Humboldt University Berlin; since 2019 designated spokesperson of the Research Training Group "Dynamic Integration (DynamInt)

 

23 January 2020

12.30 - 13.30

The Moot Court

The Dickson Poon School of Law, Somerset House East Wing