Principles of administrative procedure in EC law

Book abstract:

This book presents an analysis of the recent development of administrative procedures in EC law. It is a study of what might be termed the 'constitutional norms' now emerging, including a range of 'process rights' and procedural standards, such as the right to access to information, the right to be heard, the principle of care and duty to state reasons. These new standards are increasingly applied in areas as diverse as competition, state aids, customs matters, anti-dumping, and the European Social Fund. Different strands of case-law of the EC courts are thus connected together to document the overall evolution of procedural rules peculiar to the EC administrative system as a whole.

The author adopts a critical stance, in particular, towards the case-law of the Court of First Instance and points out the increasing pressure being brought to bear on the European Commission in respect of its procedural requirements. Particular emphasis is placed on the concept of 'care', i.e. the duty to collect and examine the factual and legal points of individual cases impartially and carefully. The book reveals the theoretical and practical relevance of this principle as a means of both procedural and substantive review as well as the reasons why it is likely to be misinterpreted by the courts.
This book is revised version of a thesis written during a year of research at the European University Institute in Florence (academic year 1996/7). The references to EC legislation and the case law of the Community Courts in administrative procedural law are updated to May 1998. It should be of interest not only to scholars familiar with EC administrative law but also to practitioners regularly confronted with procedural issues involved in both administrtive and judicial decision-making.
Hanns Peter Nehl is Research-Fellow at the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg and at the University of Hamburg.