Framework decision
- A prison warder with keys (Photo: ©BELGA_MAXPPP_STEPHANIE JAUME _9843912)
Framework decision
The word does not exist in the new Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty only uses the word in for multiannual legislative framnework programs in Article 182 TFEU and in Article 312 TFEU for the multiannual financial framework.
Previously it was a form of decision-making used in legal cooperation.
The decisions are binding upon the member states as to the result to be achieved, but leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods. Hence it corresponds to directives in the previous supranational first pillar of the Treaties.
In the Pupino Judgment in 2005, the European Court of Justice conferred direct effect on framework decisions so that they also entered into force even if a country had refused to implement the framework decision.
The last line of Article 34, 2 (b) TEU in the Nice Treaty explicitly stated that framework decisions ‘shall not entail direct effect’. This was not respected by the Court.
