Joint report on the application of the Racial Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive

Protection from discrimination is one of the areas in which EU law closely affects the everyday life of people in the EU. The comprehensive framework provided by the EU's two anti-discrimination Directives has shaped the landscape of European anti-discrimination law for over a decade now. Some Member States had hardly any legislation in this field before the transposition of the two Directives, and the Directives introduced novel elements like protection from age discrimination into the legislation of all Member States.

The anti-discrimination Directives:
- prohibit discrimination on grounds of racial or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC) and religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation (Directive 2000/78/EC);
- provide protection in a number of key areas of life: employment and vocational training (both Directives); education, social security and healthcare, and access to and supply of goods and services, including housing (Directive 2000/43/EC);
- prohibit various forms of discrimination: direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, instruction to discriminate and victimisation;
- require Member States to provide efficient sanctions and remedies.

The first implementation reports were adopted in 2006 and in 2008 respectively. Given that both of the anti-discrimination Directives have to be reported on regularly, the present document is a joint report because the regulatory approach and content of most of the provisions are identical. In addition, most Member States have transposed the two Directives in a single national act. The first reports were adopted at a time when many Member States had only recently transposed the anti-discrimination Directives into national law and therefore lacked experience in applying them.

Today, all 28 Member States have transposed the Directives and gained experience in their application. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has also developed the interpretation of the Directives through its case-law. This report provides an opportunity to examine the application of the Directives, to take stock of the interpretation given by the CJEU and national courts and to identify challenges ahead.

In accordance with the Directives, all Member States gave the Commission information contributing to this report. In addition, the Commission consulted national equality bodies, the European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet), the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, social partners, civil society organisations and the European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-discrimination Field.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2014)5: Annexes http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2014:005:FIN

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