Exporting the 'acquis communautaire' into the legal systems of third countries

Abstract

This article explores the role of the EU as a global actor in international relations and a promoter of its own standards and values abroad. In particular, this article studies selected substantive and procedural means of exporting the acquis communautaire into the legal systems of third countries. It is argued that the substantive means refer to the fundamental ways of implementing the acquis into third country legal orders. The procedural means relate to specific technical/procedural tools which either directly or indirectly encourage the implementation of the acquis into third country legal orders. The article concludes that these substantive and procedural means are not uniformly applicable, but are rather exercised in accordance with the specific objectives of EU external agreements. Analysis of the selected EU external agreements illustrates that their objectives unquestionably constitute a driving force behind understanding the role and mechanism of the substantive and procedural means of exporting the acquis communautaire