EU Non-Discrimination Law in the Courts - Approaches to Sex and Sexualties Discrimination in EU Law

In the last ten years, the material and personal scope of EU non-discrimination law has been significantly broadened and challenges national courts to introduce a comprehensive equality framework into their national law to correspond with the European standard.

The book provides a multi-layered comparison of juridical approaches to EU (in)direct sex and sexualities discrimination and its implementation in Germany and the Netherlands. It provides valuable insights into the national and European context which shape the dialogue and influences of the courts inter se, the national application of EU law, and the harmonisation process within the area of gender equality law and beyond.

It examines how and why national courts apply national non-discrimination law with a European origin differently, although the legislation derives from the same set of EU law and the national courts have to respect the interpretive competence of the CJEU.

A Dutch and German comparison is of special interest here because both countries' approaches towards non-discrimination law are quite different despite the similarities in the respective legal systems; they are founding members of the EU, they are neighbours, they are civil law countries, and their legal systems have similarities. The book is of interest for comparative and equality lawyers.

1. Introduction

2. Equality and Non-Discrimination Law

3. Non-Discrimination Law within the German and Dutch National Systems

4. The National Courts' Recognition of the Gender Dimension within Cases on Sex and Sexual Orientation

5. The Dutch and German Approaches towards Direct Discrimination

6. The German and Dutch Approaches towards Indirect Discrimination

7. EU Non-Discrimination Law in the Courts