9 - Human Rights Norms in the Court of Justice of the European Union

Summary

This chapter investigates whether and to what extent the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) refers, in addition to EU's own fundamental rights norms, also to other international human rights norms. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty is a landmark moment in this analysis. Pre-Lisbon, EU fundamental rights were protected as unwritten general principles of EU law and international human rights norms were declared to be, next to national constitutional traditions common to the Member States, a source of inspiration thereof. The ECHR was given special significance. Post-Lisbon, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights has not entirely displaced these sources of EU fundamental rights. Both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and other international human rights norms continue to appear in the Court’s case law, although the latter much more sporadically. This chapter considers in a first part the CJEU’s use of the ECHR and in a second part its use of other international human rights treaties, including the European Social Charter, ILO Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.