Community anti-discrimination legislation: possible developments

and interpretations

Evelyn Ellis

Current scope of EU anti-discrimination law

•Original Treaty provisions on nationality and sex discrimination•Art.13 TEC enabled new legislation on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation

Current scope of EU anti-discrimination law

•The Race Directive – Directive 2000/43•The Framework Directive – Directive 2000/78•The Recast Equal Treatment Directive – Directive 2006/54•The Directive on equal treatment between men and women in access to and supply of goods and services – Directive 2004/113.

Proposed new legislation

Proposed directive prohibiting discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability and age in relation to education, social security, healthcare, and goods and services.See COM (2008) 426 final.

Omissions?

•Education omitted from sex discrimination legislation•Explicit protection from multiple or intersectional discrimination

Should all the legislation be identical?

•“One-size-fits-all” approach risks dumbing down•Disability and age discrimination, in particular, require specific treatment.

What can be expected of the present legislation?

•ECJ has vital part to play•Many issues require its clarification•Court could act proactively in relation to eg. hypothetical pay comparison and multiple discrimination

The present generation of EU anti-discrimination laws cannot do it all

•Some disadvantage cannot be ascribed to discrimination•More mainstreaming necessary•A new model of more self-analytic legislation is needed.