{"id":771,"date":"2021-01-26T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mplegal.services\/?p=771"},"modified":"2021-05-11T09:04:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T09:04:57","slug":"the-act-ification-of-eu-law-the-long-overdue-move-towards-eponymous-eu-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mplegal.services\/?p=771","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cact-ification\u201d of EU law: The (long-overdue) move towards \u201ceponymous\u201d EU legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Published in European Law Blog<\/a>, 26.01.2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The recent release by the Commission of the draft Digital Services Act<\/a> and the Digital Markets Act<\/a> may have attracted significant attention from stakeholders for their substance. However, this contribution is not about the content but the titles of these acts. In the author\u2019s opinion, these two instruments are the latest addition to an emerging trend among the EU law-makers to release, \u201cacts\u201d or at least \u201ceponymous\u201d pieces of legislation. This trend shall be referred to here as \u201cact-ification\u201d of EU law. This trend is to be welcomed in that it signifies a new confidence and self-assuredness of EU law. After more than half a century since it came into life, EU law now seems to feel confident enough to release \u201cacts\u201d or, at any event, eponymous pieces of legislation, immediately recognizable by Europeans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Identifying a trend<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Commission\u2019s draft Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act (each one also fitted with acronyms to even further ease reference \u2013 DSA and DMA) are the latest additions to a Data Governance Act<\/a> and a European Climate Law<\/a>. These followed the Cybersecurity Act<\/a> of 2019, which in turn followed the, perhaps EU law\u2019s Big Bang moment in terms of public awareness and direct effect on the (EU) ground, General Data Protection Regulation<\/a> of 2016. If we were to indeed identify a trend and then try to make a distinction, it could be claimed that, while eponymous EU pieces of legislation were not unheard of in the past (see the case of the ePrivacy Directive below), the significant turning point came during the Commission\u2019s Priorities Programme 2019-2024<\/a>. Almost all of the above instruments fall under it, signifying an underlying consistent and persistent (but not uniform, e.g. Regulation on serious cross-border threats to health<\/a> or the Directive on the resilience of critical entities<\/a> that follow the old pattern), cross-sectoral approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For the purposes of this analysis, \u201cacts\u201d or \u201ceponymous\u201d EU law are considered only those who formally and officially carry a name in their title. For the moment, this is accomplished by means of parentheses that follow the \u201cnormal\u201d name of the statute in question. In fact, in these parentheses, the statute\u2019s name is included and the text preceding them describes their subject-matter (see below, 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Under the above clarification it should be noted that EU legislative acts naming has undoubtedly not been unheard of in the past. For example, the ePrivacy Directive<\/a> (or, more accurately, the \u201cDirective on privacy and electronic communications<\/em>\u201c) has carried such a title since 2002. However, this by no means constituted either the rule or even a frequent occurrence. In their vast majority, even famous EU pieces of legislation only carried an informal title, given to them even by their law-makers themselves (e.g. the NIS Directive<\/a>, the Water Framework Directive<\/a> or the Industrial Emissions Directive<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Titles of EU legislative acts<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Titles are given to EU legislative acts according to the EU Interinstitutional Style Guide<\/a>. According to its Section 2.1<\/a>, \u201cthe complete title of an act comprises:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n