Appealing Rights Under EU Law

Information

Europe Direct

If you have questions about your rights as a European Union (EU) citizen, Europe Direct provides a free telephone and e-mail service that acts as a first point of contact. It offers information on many EU topics and can refer users to the best source of advice at EU, national, regional and local levels.

European Commission Office in Ireland

If you consider that your rights under EU law are not being respected, you may make a formal complaint to the European Commission. The Commission will investigate your complaint and if your complaint is upheld, may ask the Government to ensure that your rights are respected or may take the Government to the European Court of Justice. The Dublin office has a Citizens' Rights Service to which you can write about such problems.

European Commission Code of Good Behaviour for relations with the public

The Commission has adopted a Code of Good Administrative Behaviour for its relations with the public. It is legally binding on the Commission as an institution and on individual staff of the Commission.

If you feel the Commission has failed to comply with this code, download a complaint form, from the Commission website.

The European Ombudsman

The European Ombudsman examines complaints about maladministration by EU institutions.

European Parliament Petitions Committee

The European Parliament has a Petitions Committee, which hears complaints from citizens about matters related to the EU. It does not have the power to implement its decisions but it is influential. Write to your MEP or directly to the Parliament.

The European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice is the EU court. Individuals have limited rights of direct access to this court.

The European Court of Human Rights

This is the court to which you should complain about breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is to be distinguished from the European Court of Justice, which is an EU institution and to which issues of EU law are referred.

Out-of-Court Complaints Network for Financial Services

There is an EU-wide out-of-court complaints network for financial services. This network, called FIN-NET, has been designed particularly to facilitate the out-of-court resolution of consumer disputes when the service provider is established in an EU member state other than that where the consumer lives. The network brings together more than 35 different national schemes that either cover financial services in particular (e.g., banking and insurance ombudsman schemes) or handle consumer disputes in general (e.g., consumer complaint boards). Both on- and off-line services are covered.

The Insurance Ombudsman in Ireland and the Ombudsman for the Credit Institutions in Ireland are both members of the network.

Further information on the FIN-NET network, its membership and how it operates is available from the Commission website.

Out-of-Court Settlements

The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) assists consumers with out-of-court settlement procedures throughout Europe. There is a European Consumer Centre in Ireland.

Citizens' Rights

There is a network of single market contact points in all member states of the EU for the purpose of helping citizens if they are having difficulties in enforcing their single market rights, including rights of free movement of people and goods and the right to establish businesses. In Ireland, the contact point is the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation