Testing the Limits of the EC Treaty Article on Non-Discrimination

Article 13 ec, the new general non-discrimination article, gives the community the competence to adopt measures to combat discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. In this paper the likely impact of the new provision is considered. The potential for the adoption of instruments based on article 13, as well as the article's possible effect on legislation and policy based on other treaty articles and the case law of the court of justice is examined. It is argued that article 13 is not only likely to prompt commission proposals for concrete non-discrimination measures but also, perhaps more significantly, exert more subtle influences on community policy by, for example, allowing greater scope for the inclusion of equal opportunity clauses and 'mainstreaming' in community instruments, and encouraging an expansion of the general principle of equality recognised by the court.