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The Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The role of the body is to ensure that the whole European Union (EU) is an area of freedom, security and justice. The specific tasks and responsibilities of the DG are laid down by the Treaty of Rome (see Part Two, Articles 17–22; Part Three, Title III, Articles 39–47), the Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force on 1 May 1999, and the conclusions of the European Council meeting in Tampere (Finland), a special meeting held on 15-16 October 1999 concerned with the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice within the EU. [1]
The relevant Commissioner is the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality (formerly European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship), currently Commissioners Didier Reynders and Helena Dalli. The current Director-General is Ana Gallego Torres. [2]
In 2023 it had 400 employees. [3]
As of 2024, the DG Justice and Consumers is divided into 5 directorates, [4] namely :
DG Justice and Consumers is responsible for relations with the following EU agencies: the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and the European Union Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST).
DG JUSTICE was created in 2010 when the DG Justice, Freedom and Security was split into DG JUSTICE and the Directorate-General for Home Affairs. [5]
The Community acquis or acquis communautaire, sometimes called the EU acquis and often shortened to acquis, is the accumulated legislation, legal acts and court decisions that constitute the body of European Union law that came into being since 1993. The term is French: acquis meaning "that which has been acquired or obtained", and communautaire meaning "of the community".
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFR) enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union (EU) citizens and residents into EU law. It was drafted by the European Convention and solemnly proclaimed on 7 December 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. However, its then legal status was uncertain and it did not have full legal effect until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009.
Viviane Adélaïde Reding is a Luxembourgish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Luxembourg. She is a member of the Christian Social People's Party, part of the European People's Party. She previously served as European Commissioner for Education and Culture from 1999 to 2004, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media from 2004 to 2010 and European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship from 2010 to 2014.
The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) is an agency of the European Union (EU) dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters among agencies of the member states. It is seated in The Hague, Netherlands. Established in 2002, it was created to improve handling of serious cross-border and organised crime by stimulating investigative and prosecutorial co-ordination.
The agencies of the European Union are bodies of the European Union and Euratom established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation and tasked with a specific narrow field of work.
The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 of 15 February 2007.
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is the European Union’s agency for gender equality.
The Commissioner for Justice is a post in the European Commission. The portfolios of Justice and Equality were previously combined as Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality under commissioner is Věra Jourová; however, the two portfolios were split in 2019. Didier Reynders currently serves as Justice Commissioner and Helena Dalli serves as Equality Commissioner.
The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, until 2014 known as the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, is a directorate-general of the European Commission. The DG is responsible for the monitoring and implementation of European Union policies and laws on health and food safety. It is headed by European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides and Director-General Sandra Gallina.
The Stockholm Programme is a five-year plan with guidelines for justice and home affairs of the member states of the European Union for the years 2010 through 2014.
The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) of the European Union (EU) is a policy domain concerning home affairs and migration, justice as well as fundamental rights, developed to address the challenges posed to internal security by collateral effects of the free movement of people and goods in the absence of border controls or customs inspection throughout the Schengen Area, as well as to safeguard adherence to the common European values through ensuring that the fundamental rights of people are respected across the EU.
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs is a member of the European Commission. Its responsibilities include internal security, counter-terrorism, law enforcement, migration policy, border control, and maintaining the Schengen Area's integrity.
The Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The role of the body is to ensure the EU's security, to build a common EU migration and asylum policy, and to promote dialogue and cooperation with non-EU countries. Thereby, it contributes to the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ).
Helena Dalli is a Maltese politician serving as European Commissioner for Equality since 1 December 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker, who presided over 27 other commissioners. In July 2014, Juncker was officially elected to succeed José Manuel Barroso, who completed his second five-year term in that year.
The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) is one of the configurations of the Council of the European Union and is composed of the justice and home affairs ministers of the 27 European Union member states.
Media freedom in the European Union is a fundamental right that applies to all member states of the European Union and its citizens, as defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. Within the EU enlargement process, guaranteeing media freedom is named a "key indicator of a country's readiness to become part of the EU".
Human rights in the Czech Republic are generally regarded as adequate, with some lingering issues. In recent years, the Czech Republic has made significant strides in upholding and protecting the human rights of individuals. As a member state of international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), it is a signatory to several treaties that require the state to guarantee human rights. Despite this, there are still lingering human rights issues, which include violence against women and discrimination against vulnerable groups such as the Roma people and members of the LGBTQI community.