EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines into primary EU law a wide array of fundamental rights enjoyed by EU citizens and residents. It became legally binding with the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009.
This section of the website encompasses Charterpedia, an online tool which provides easy-to-access information about the Charter and its provisions. For each Charter Article, it includes the official explanations of the Charter Articles, related European and national case law, and related provisions in national constitutional law as well as in international law. It also contains references to academic analysis and related FRA publications. The information is also available offline in our EU Charter App.
The original compilation was created by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee. Since 2009 it has been maintained and continuously expanded by the FRA.
The European and national case law is also accessible via the Case-Law Database.
Our new e-learning tool Charter e-guidance assists judges and other legal practitioners on the field of application of the Charter as laid down in Article 51.
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
- Annual report by the European Commission on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (2010 onwards)
- Strategy to strengthen the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU
- Commission notice - Guidance on ensuring the respect for the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union when implementing the European Structural and Investment Funds (‘ESI Funds’)
- Council Conclusions on the Charter of Fundamental Rights after 10 Years: State of Play and Future Work, 20.9.2019
- European Parliament resolution of 12 February 2019 on the implementation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the EU institutional framework (2017/2089(INI))
- How to better implement the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights - Selected Quotes from European Parliament and Council Conclusions 2010 - 2020
ARTICLE-BY-ARTICLE COMMENTARIES ON THE CHARTER
- Bifulco, R., Cartabia, M. and Celotto, A. (2001), L’Europa dei diritti: Commento alla Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell’Unione Europea, il Mulino, Bologna.
- Coghian N. Steiert M. (eds.) (2020), The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: the travaux préparatoires and selected documents
- Holoubek, M. and Lienbacher, G. (eds.) (2019), Commentary on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (GRC-Kommentar), 2nd edition, Manz, Vienna;
- Kellerbauer, M., Klamert, M. and Tomkin J. (eds.) (2019), Commentary on the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Mangas Martin, A. (2008), Carta de los derechos fundamentales de la Unión Europea: Comentario, artículo por artículo, Fundacion BBVA, Bilbao.
- Mastroianni, R., Allegrezza, S., Razzolini, O., Pollicino, O. and Pappalardo, F. (eds.) (2017), Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell’Unione Europea, Giuffrè, Milano;
- Meyer, J. and Hölscheidt, S. (eds.) (2019), Charta der Grundrechte der Europäischen Union: Kommentar, (Commentary on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union) 5th edition.
- Peers, S., Hervey, T., Kenner, J. and Ward, A. (scheduled for 2021), The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: A commentary, 2nd edition, CH Beck Hart Nomos, Oxford;
- Picod, F., Rizcallah, C. and Van Drooghenbroeck, S. (2020), Charte des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne: Commentaire article par article (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: Commentary article-byarticle), Bruylant, Bruxelles.
- Sachpekidou E., Tagaras Ch., Kanellopoulou-Malouchou N., Karagiannis V., Lentzis D., Marouda M.-N., Sarmas D., Takis A., Tsolka O., (2020), Κατ’ άρθρο ερμηνεία του Χάρτη των Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (Article-By-Article Commentary Of The Eu Charter Of Fundamental Rights ), Nomiki Bibliothiki, 752 p.
- Toggenburg G. (2019 - 2021), All EU-r rights, Online series published in the EURAC Research in English, Blog (and partly available also in Italian on Lo Spiegone)
OTHER DOCUMENTS, SOURCES AND TOOLS (mostly from projects co-funded by the EU)
- Case-law by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the principle of ne bis in idem in criminal matters. Eurojust February 2024
- European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) judicial publications
The European Union Agency for Asylum produces a range of judicial publications specifically tailored to the needs of members of courts and tribunals competent in asylum matters. These publications comprise judicial analyses, judicial trainers’ guidance notes and compilations of jurisprudence. All materials are developed in English and are translated in several languages. - ACTIONES (Active Charter Training through Interaction Of National Experiences) was an EU-funded project focused on the vertical and horizontal interaction between courts. It resulted in four handbooks on techniques of judicial interactions in the application of the Charter.
- The Charter in action: an EU-funded project that resulted in a best practices handbook for Charter trainings and a training manual;
- Charterclick was an EU-funded project that resulted in a Charter tutorial and an interactive checklist both designed to make understand whether the Charter applies to a given case. Both tools are available on the e-justice platform of the European Commission.
- European Judicial Training Network (ETJN) database lists all available face-to-face judicial training opportunities.
- Council of Europe HELP training platform provides a range of resources on the ECHR. These include distance-learning and self-learning resources on the ECHR and European human rights standards, as well as handbooks and other useful resources.
- Council of Europe HELP: Introduction to Human Rights Protection in Europe - Interplay between the ECHR and the EU Charter
- Judging the Charter: an EU-funded project which resulted in a set of training events, a manual on the role of the Charter in asylum cases and a Charter website that brings together a large amount of Charter-related information, including exercises and training materials, case law and a selection of relevant EU legislation;
- Library of Charter-specific training materials put together by the European Law Academy in Trier which offers a wide spectrum of trainings on the Charter
- Making the Charter of Fundamental Rights a living instrument: an EU-funded project that resulted in a user-friendly Manual on the Charter and Guidelines for civil society actors on how to best use the Charter;
- Making the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights a reality for all - 12 November 2019 - Conference material
NB: The above links are provided for information purposes only. The FRA bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of external websites and links.
260 results found
- La Charte des droits fondamentaux de l’Union européenne et les ordres juridiques nationaux, de la mise en œuvre à la mise en balanceTranslated Title:The Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union and the national legal systems, from the implementation to the balancing processPublished in: Revue trimestrielle de droit européen, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 219-247
- Stosowanie prawa UE przez państwa członkowskie z perspektywy Trybunału Sprawiedliwości - od pełnej zgodności między Kartą i prawem UE do barier proceduralnych ją niweczącychTranslated Title:The application of the European Union law by the Member States from the perspective of the Court of Justice – from the full compatibility between the Charter and the European Union law to the procedural barriers nullifying the CharterPublished in: Europejski Przegląd Sądowy, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 10-18
- 'Stesso valore giuridico dei Trattati'? Rango, primato ed effetti diretti della Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell'Unione europeaTranslated Title:Do the Treaties have the same judicial value? Rank, primacy and direct effect of the EU Charter of fundamental rightsPublished in: Il diritto dell'Unione Europea, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 329-356
- Karta Praw Podstawowych UE w orzecznictwie Trybunału KonstytucyjnegoTranslated Title:European Union Charter of the Fundamental Rights in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional TribunalPublished in: Europejski Przegląd Sądowy, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 21-26
- Σκέψεις όσον αφορά τον Χάρτη Θεμελιωδών Δικαιωμάτων της Ευρωπαϊκής Ενώσεως και τον Αναθεωρημένο Ευρωπαϊκό Κοινωνικό Χάρτη (Ν.4359/16) εν σχέσει με τον αναιτιώδη χαρακτήρα της καταγγελίας της συμβάσεως εργασίας αορίστου χρόνουTranslated Title:Thoughts regarding the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the revised European Social Charter (law 4359/16) in relation with the non-causal character of employment contract terminationPublished in: Δελτίον Εργατικής Νομοθεσίας (Bulletin of Labor Legislation), 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 1210-1212
- Courts, Charters and Conventions: Making Sense of Fundamental Rights in the EUPublished in: The Irish Jurist, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 4-41
- Bulletin on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: an introduction (Part 1)Published in: European Human Rights Law Review, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 24-33
- Prienik Charty základných práv Európskej únie do vnútroštátneho práva na príklade Slovenskej republikyTranslated Title:The Intersection of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union with National Law: The Case of the Slovak RepublicPublished in: Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 9-16
- La Cour de justice de l'Union européenne et la Charte des droits fondamentaux: une illustration des splendeurs et misères de la régulation sociale par la mobilisation des droits sociaux fondamentaux par le jugeTranslated Title:The Court of Justice of the European Union and the Charter of fundamental rights: an illustration of the splendours and miseries of social regulation by the use of fundamental social rights by judgesPublished in: Droit Social, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 209-218
- Het Handvest van de Grondrechten van de Europese Unie: een nieuwe speler in het vreemdelingenrecht (Deel 1)Translated Title:The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: a new player in the immigration law (Part 1)Published in: Tijdschrift voor Vreemdelingenrecht (T. Vreemd.), 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 6-38
- Irish courts rely heavily on EU Charter and ECHR ActPublished in: Gazette of the Law Society of Ireland, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:p 27
- Repliik. H. Kalmo. Põhiseaduse põkkumine Euroopa Liidu põhiõiguste hartagaTranslated Title:Reply. H. Kalmo. Meshing of the Constitution with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionPublished in: Juridica, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 292-293
- De toepassing van het Handvest van de grondrechten van de Europese Unie op handelingen van de lidstaten: een analyse in het licht van het arrest C-617/10 van het Hof van Justitie van 26 februari 2013 inzake Åkerberg FranssonTranslated Title:The application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union regarding the actions of the Member States: an analysis in the light of the judgment in Case C-617/10 of the Court of Justice of February 26, 2013 on Åkerberg FranssonPublished in: Tijdschrift voor bestuurswetenschappen & publiekrecht, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 16-33
- The right to vote as an EU fundamental right and the expanding scope of application of the EU Charter of Fundamental RightsPublished in: Cambridge Law Journal, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 24-27
- Põhiseaduse põkkumine Euroopa Liidu põhiõiguste hartagaTranslated Title:Meshing of the Constitution with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionPublished in: Juridica, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 147-164
- Európsky zatykač a Charta základných práv Európskej únieTranslated Title:The European arrest warrant and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European UnionPublished in: Bulletin Slovenskej Advokácie, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 35-37
- Unapređenje procesnih prava osumnjičenika i okrivljenika u kaznenom pustupku: Pogled kroz prizmu europskih pravnih standardTranslated Title:Improvement of procedural rights of suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings: Looking through the prism of European legal standardsPublished in: Hrvatski ljetopis za kazneno pravo i praksu (Croatian Criminal Law and Practice Yearbook), 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 11-58
- Possible Shielding Effects of Article 27 on Workers’ Rights to Information and Consultation in the EU Charter of Fundamental RightsPublished in: International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 251-273
- How the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights impacts on Workers in IrelandPublished in: Irish Employment Law Journal, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 72-75
- EU-Fluggastdatensystem und die Grundrechte: Die neue Richtlinie über die Nutzung von Fluggastdaten zur Kriminalitätsbekämpfung im Lichte der GrundrechtechartaTranslated Title:EU Passenger Name Record data and fundamental rights: The new directive regulating the use of Passenger Name Record data to combat crime in light of the Charter of Fundamental RightsPublished in: SIAK-Journal, 2016Year:2016Page numbers:pp 86-101