Amsterdam, Treaty

Strengthening cooperation among Member States to enhance the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which entered into force in May 1999, and to develop effective EU-wide law enforcement is also stressed. 

It also has exclusive jurisdiction in disputes between Member States concerning the interpretation and application of Community law. The court does not have jurisdiction in matters concerning the Common Foreign and Security Pohcy, but it acquired limited powers in police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters under the Amsterdam Treaty. 

Originally the Treaty of Rome required unanimous assent for a matter to be adopted, but the subsequent Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam have considerably modified the procedure. These Treaties introduced a co-decision procedure, shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.3, whereby the Council of the European Union (Council) and the European Parhament (EP) work on an equal footing and have to agree the text of proposed new EU legislation before it can be adopted. Where EP and the Council cannot agree, a Conciliation Committee has to be established to resolve any differences. 

Under the social policy of the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty major areas to be tackled include ... 

Since the first edition was published, there have been a surprising number of developments in, and rationalization of, legislative requirements. There have also been changes in the way in which EU directives are adopted as a result of the co-decision procedure introduced by the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. This has given the European Parliament a much greater say in the content of directives. 

The powers of the EU in heaith and safety iaw are derived from the Treaty of Rome 1957 and the Singie European Act 1986. For heaith and safety, the Singie European Act added two additional Articles 100A and 118A. The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam renumbered them as Articles 95 and 138 respectively. Article 95 is concerned with health and safety standards of equipment and plant and its Directives are implemented in the UK by the Department of Trade and Industry. 

The Treaty of Amsterdam which came into force in May 1999 has resulted in a renumbering of the treaty articles to rationaUse the amendments made since the original treaty. Article 100 is now renumbered as article 94. 

The Treaty of European Union 1991 (the Maastricht Treaty) re-emphasised these Community aims and added further goals of economic and monetary uixion, and these are developed in the Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 (ToA). The Treaty of Amsterdam consolidates the administration of the Commuixities and institutions of the Union and provides for the coherent renumbering of Treaty Articles. The ToA is also concerned with developing the concept of European citizenship, common strategies for employment and the co-ordination of national policies consolidation of enviroixmental... 

Originally known as the European Economic Community (EEC) and then as the European Commrmity (EC) it is now usual to refer to the Community as the European Union (EU). The primary legislation is the Treaty of Rome 1957 which established the Community and was incorporated into UK law by the European Corranunities Act 1972 the Single Emopean Act 1985 was incorporated into UK law in 1986 and the Treaty of European Union 1991 (TEU) (the Maastricht Treaty), incorporated into UK law by the European Commrmities Act 1992. The TEU and the Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 , strengthen the role of the European Parliament (EP) by extending the scope of the co-decision procedure (outlined below). The Treaty of Nice 2001 is directed to enlargement of the Emopean Union. 

With the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, the legislative competence in the fields of European social policies was further strengthened by the incorporation of the social agreement into the EC Treaty. 

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