Legal terms, concepts and definitions in the transposition of EU law

Abstract

Definitions play an important role in national and EU legal acts. This paper tackles the role of definitions in the transposition process during which national legislation is drafted to achieve the results described in EU directives. Seven models of term/concept transfer from EU law into national law are indicated. The analysis of the models, based on the implementation of directives into Polish law, reveals that the transposition of a term, concept, and its definition into national law is not the only possible scenario applied in national legislation. The chapter explains how national drafters modify a term, concept or definition and why they decide to omit the EU term, concept or definition in national legal acts.