Developing anti-discrimination law in Europe: The 25 member states compared

A review of the transposition of the EC Racial Equality and the Employment Equality directives in the national law of 25 EU Member States was published by the Migration Policy group in late 2007. In many European countries anti-discrimination legislation was reviewed and changed during the last couple of years. This major and unprecedented operation was set in motion with the adoption of two pieces of European legislation in 2000, namely the Racial Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive. How these Directives were transposed into national law of the 25 Member States is described in a series of country reports prepared by the European Network of Legal Experts in the non-discrimination field. The reports were written by independent national experts in each Member State. Member States were also given an opportunity to comment on the final drafts of which they made minimal use. The 25 reports cover the many changes to national law, the putting in place of enforcement mechanisms and the adoption of other measures. This comparative analysis compares the information set out in these country reports in a format mirroring that of the country reports themselves and draws some conclusions from the information contained in them.