Final Provisions

Abstract

This chapter explores the final provisions of the citizens’ Directive, which do not concern a single specific issue. Rather, they concern the effective implementation of the Directive as a whole. They include provisions which are absolutely essential for the Directive to have any legal effect at all as well as those deemed necessary to ensure its effective implementation in practice. The most significant provision of these is Article 35, which concerns fraud or abuse of rights. This Article is unobjectionable to the extent that it confirms prior case law and merely reiterates that persons who do not qualify for the rights in the Directive cannot rely upon it. However, this statement begs the question as to who benefits from the rights in the first place. In the interests of legal certainty, it would be useful if the Court of Justice took an early opportunity to clarify the meaning of this clause.