## Facts

- The Council of the European Union adopted Directive 2000/43/EC on 29 June 2000 under Article 13 EC (now Article 19 TFEU) to combat discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin.
- The Directive establishes minimum EU-wide standards that Member States must transpose into national law (initial deadline July 19, 2003, with limited extensions for some obligations).
- The Directive applies to both public and private sectors, including public bodies, and protects all persons within its material scope.
- It regulates discrimination in employment and self-employment; vocational training; working conditions (including pay and dismissal); membership in worker/employer and professional organizations; social protection (including healthcare and social security); social advantages; education; and access to goods and services available to the public (including housing).
- The Directive defines and prohibits direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, instructions to discriminate, and victimisation related to complaints or proceedings.
- It requires Member States to provide judicial and/or administrative enforcement procedures, effective sanctions, burden-of-proof rules favorable to claimants once a presumption is established, and designated equality bodies with specified functions.
- It permits limited exceptions (e.g., genuine occupational requirements) and authorizes positive action to prevent or compensate for disadvantages linked to racial or ethnic origin.
- It excludes from its scope differential treatment based on nationality and does not regulate rules on entry, residence, or legal status of third-country nationals and stateless persons.

## Issues

1. What minimum, binding standards must Member States implement to secure equal treatment irrespective of racial or ethnic origin across key areas of social and economic life?
2. How should EU law define and prohibit direct and indirect racial or ethnic discrimination, including harassment, instruction to discriminate, and victimisation?
3. What procedural and institutional mechanisms are required to make anti-discrimination rights enforceable and effective at national level?
4. To what extent may Member States allow exceptions and adopt positive measures while preserving the principle of equal treatment?

## Decision

- The Directive established a legally enforceable EU framework requiring equal treatment irrespective of racial or ethnic origin.
- It prohibited direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, instructions to discriminate, and victimisation within the Directive’s material scope.
- It required Member States to:
  - provide access to judicial and/or administrative procedures (including, where appropriate, conciliation);
  - ensure sanctions that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive (including compensation as applicable);
  - apply burden-shifting in civil and administrative proceedings once facts support a presumption of discrimination; and
  - designate equality bodies to assist victims, conduct surveys, and issue reports and recommendations.
- It allowed limited derogations for genuine and determining occupational requirements and permitted positive action to ensure full equality in practice.
- It preserved Member State discretion to adopt or maintain more favorable protections than the Directive’s minimum requirements.

## Legal Principles

- Equal treatment requires the absence of direct or indirect discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin.
- Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favorably than another in a comparable situation on grounds of racial or ethnic origin.
- Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral rule or practice disproportionately disadvantages persons of a racial or ethnic origin, unless objectively justified by a legitimate aim and proportionate means.
- Harassment related to racial or ethnic origin constitutes discrimination when it has the purpose or effect of violating dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.
- An instruction to discriminate is treated as discrimination, and retaliation connected to complaints or proceedings (victimisation) must be prohibited.
- Effective enforcement requires accessible procedures, deterrent sanctions, and evidentiary rules shifting the burden to respondents after a claimant establishes presumptive facts.
- Member States must maintain independent equality bodies with functions that include victim assistance, independent monitoring, and public reporting.
- Limited exceptions are allowed only under strict conditions (legitimate objective and proportionality), and positive action may be used to prevent or compensate for disadvantage linked to racial or ethnic origin.

## Conclusion

Directive 2000/43/EC created an EU-wide, minimum-standard legal regime against racial and ethnic discrimination across employment, social protection, education, and access to goods and services, combining substantive prohibitions with mandatory national enforcement tools, burden-shifting rules, and equality bodies, while allowing tightly constrained exceptions and positive action.


Council Directive 2000/43/EC, 2000 O.J. (L 180) 22 (EU)