Public Policy as an Exception to Free Movement within the Internal Market and the European Judicial Area: A Comparison

Abstract

This article compares the public policy exception to free movement of goods, services, persons and capital (the four freedoms) with the public policy exception to free movement of judgments (the fifth freedom). A comparison is made on the basis of the following elements: types of public policy (domestic, international, purely inter-national; European; substantive and procedural), restrictiveness of interpretation, variability, content, nature and the addressees of protection. The conclusion is that there is only one concept of public policy that varies from time to time and from Member State to Member State, although there are some differences in the operation of the uses in the two areas of public policy.