Proportionality Revisited
Legal Issues of Economic Integration, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 239-265, 2000
27 Pages Posted: 28 May 2009
Date Written: May 27, 2009
Abstract
In European Community law the proportionality principle plays an import role in assessing the admissibility of national import and export restrictions. The central question is what must be proportionate to what. Must the justification relied on by the Member State (public policy, safety, public health, consumer protection, environmental protection etc.) be reasonably commensurate with the interest of free movement of goods?
In other words is proportionality concerned with the interests that must be balanced against each other when the principle is applied? Or does the proportionality principle only concern the instruments a State may apply where public policy, safety, public health etc. are at stake; and more particularly in the sense that the State may only take that measure which least restricts the free movement of goods?
The purpose of this contribution is primarily to examine whether it is possible to detect a clear line in the decisions of the Court of Justice since 1992.
Keywords: EU law, proportionality, trade law, import, export
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation