This book offers a rigorous empirical and theoretical analysis of an important dimension of European integration - the implementation of EU legislation and its effect in the wake of the accession of ten new member states to the EU in 2004. The authors concentrate on the key field of social policy, which is of vital interest for the viability of the welfare state and the future of labour law standards in Europe. Following on from a previous prize-winning study, Complying with Europe: EU Harmonization and Soft Law in the Member States, this new volume looks at how EU social legislation works in practice, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries. The authors offer in-depth empirical case studies of three of the most significant pieces of EU social legislation: the Working Time Directive, the Equal Treatment Directive and the Employment Equality Directive. Their analysis makes it possible for the authors to make useful generalizations for the policy field as a whole.

This book offers a rigorous empirical and theoretical analysis of the implementation of EU legislation and its effect in the wake of the accession of ten new member states to the EU in 2004. The authors offer in-depth empirical case studies of three of the most significant pieces of EU social legislation: the Working Time Directive, the Equal Treatment Directive and the Employment Equality Directive.

This book offers a rigorous empirical and theoretical analysis of an important dimension of European integration - the implementation of EU legislation and its effect in the wake of the accession of ten new member states to the EU in 2004. The authors concentrate on the key field of social policy, which is of vital interest for the viability of the welfare state and the future of labour law standards in Europe. Following on from a previous prize-winning study, Complying with Europe: EU Harmonization and Soft Law in the Member States, this new volume looks at how EU social legislation works in practice, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries. The authors offer in-depth empirical case studies of three of the most significant pieces of EU social legislation: the Working Time Directive, the Equal Treatment Directive and the Employment Equality Directive. Their analysis makes it possible for the authors to make useful generalizations for the policy field as a whole.

It is clear that the current crisis of the EU is not confined to the Eurozone and the EMU, evidenced in its inability to ensure the compliance of Member States to follow the principles and values underlying the integration project in Europe (including the protection of democracy, the Rule of Law, and human rights). This defiance has affected the Union profoundly, and in a multi-faceted assessment of this phenomenon, The Enforcement of EU Law and Values: Ensuring Member States' Compliance, dissects the essence of this crisis, examining its history and offering coping methods for the years to come. Defiance is not a new concept and this volume explores the richness of EU-level and national-level examples of historical defiance – the French Empty Chair policy–, the Luxembourg compromise, and the FPÖ crisis in Austria - and draws on the experience of the US legal system and that of the integration projects on other continents. Building on this legal-political context, the book focuses on the assessment of the adequacy of the enforcement mechanisms whilst learning from EU integration history. Structured in four parts, the volume studies (1) theoretical issues on defiance in the context of multi-layered legal orders, (2) EU mechanisms of acquis and values' enforcement, (3) comparative perspective on law-enforcement in multi-layered legal systems, and (4) case-studies of defiance in the EU.

The European Union, as a regulatory polity based on integration through law, arguably relies more on legal compliance with its policies than any other political system. Proceeding from this point of departure, this book puts the spotlight on the subnational tier and scrutinizes its role in ensuring compliance. Drawing on a dataset of infringement proceedings against federal and regionalized member states, the book shows that strong shared rule, i.e., strong cooperation between national and subnational authorities, can improve national compliance records. In contrast, policy sectors with strong redistributive consequences impair subnational authorities’ capacity to comply. In short, policy and politics matter more than polity.

"When it comes to taxation, administrative costs to the tax authorities and compliance costs to the taxpayers arise. A lot of studies have already been conducted in order to shed more light on such “hidden costs” of taxation. Particularly in the field of transfer pricing, administrative and compliance costs are assumed to be quite high due to the obligation of computing and documenting an arm’s length price for each intra-group-transaction. Apparently, European policy makers have also become aware of this problem since the European Commission’s report released in 2001 (“Company Taxation in the Internal Market”) recommends targeted measures in the short run and comprehensive ones in the long run, crossing the border line of the currently prevailing transfer pricing approach, inter alia in order to combat compliance costs in the field of transfer pricing. Eighteen national reports from countries all over the world and a general report deal with the basics of administrative and compliance costs of taxation in general as well as compliance costs in the field of transfer pricing in particular. The book is completed by three special reports on certain issues. The findings of the reports included is greatly influenced by the discussions on the occasion of the Jean Monnet Conference on this topic which was held in spring 2006 in Rust (Austria) under the academic guidance of the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration." -- Back cover.