If a piece a law (usually a directive, but also a regulation on occasion), is described as minimum harmonisation, that means that it sets a threshold which national legislation must meet. However, national law may exceed the terms of the legislation if desired.
It is usually easier to reach agreement on legislation drafted on this basis, as it allows existing national legislation on issues such as consumer protection or the environment to remain in place. Therefore, most European legislation has been implemented on this basis. In more recent years, however, the burden of EC law has led to calls for deregulation, and accusations that some member states still indulge in protectionism when implementing directives into national law through gold-plating. Therefore, a growing minority of EU law contains maximum harmonisation provisions.
It is quite common for a directive or recommendation to consist of a mixture of maximum harmonisation and minimum harmonisation clauses.
Harmonisation of one issue results in the necessity to harmonize the related issues, which is only one step away from a common policy in a given area.
Harmonization in the area of asylum policy has gained speed after the adoption of the Treaty of Amsterdam (further referred to as TA), in which this field was transferred from the third pillar of intergovernmental character to the first, community pillar.
The Directive establishing minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals and stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection was adopted as late as on April 29th 2004 (political agreement was reached on March 30th 2004).
Maximum harmonisation is a term used in European Union law.
If a piece a law (usually a directive, but also a regulation on occasion), is described as maximum harmonisation, that means that national law may not exceed the terms of the legislation.
It is quite common for a directive or recommendation to consist of a mixture of maximum harmonisation and minimumharmonisation clauses.
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