2011:32 The Euratom Treaty v. Treaties of the European Union: limits of competence and interaction

Generally regulation under the Euratom Treaty could be divided into two main groups: areas explicitly regulated by the Euratom Treaty (promotion of research and dissemination of knowledge; health and safety; encouragement of investment; supplies; safeguards; the nuclear common market) and areas which are in the competence of the Euratom Community, but are not laid out in the Euratom Treaty (nuclear safety; management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.

The Euratom Treaty in comparison with other international treaties and the EU Treaties (TEU and TFEU) has some special features, distinguishing it from all others: special enforcement procedure, stagnant material law and new areas of competence. Perception of their existence is essential in order to understand the secondary legal system based on the Euratom Treaty and to implement Euratom Treaty provisions correctly on the national level. After the Lisbon Treaty amendments, implementation of new provisions in the Euratom Treaty on ordinary legislative procedure and role of national parliaments is considered to be quite problematic. The interaction between the Euratom Treaty and the TFEU in the specific fields is presented in the table below.