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There are three sources of Union law:

• primary legislation: the treaties
• secondary legislation: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinion s made by the Union's institutions in accordance with the treaties
• decisions of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance

It is more correct though, to make the distinction between European Community (EC) law and European Union law, as it is only EC law that overrides the national laws of the member states. The European Community constitutes one of the 'three pillars' of the European Union.

1 Primary legislation: the treaties

Main article: Treaties of the European Union

The primary legislation, or treaties, are effectively the constitutional law of the European Union. They lay down the basic policies of the Union, establish its institutional structure, legislative procedures, and the powers of the Union. The treaties that make up the primary legislation include:

• the ECSC Treaty of 1951 ( Treaty of Paris)
• the EEC Treaty of 1957 ( Treaty of Rome)
• the EURATOM Treaty of 1957 (Treaty of Rome)
• the Merger TreatyThe Merger Treaty signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965 and in force since 1 July 1967, first gathered together the organisational structures of the then three European Communities ( European Coal and Steel Community, European Economic Community and Euratom) of 1965
• the Acts of Accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark (1972)
• the Budgetary Treaty of 1970
• the Budgetary Treaty of 1975
• the Act of Accession of Greece (1979)
• the Acts of Accession of Spain and Portugal (1985)
• the Single European ActThe Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the Treaty of Rome. There was a tremendous amount of discontent among European Community members in the 1980s. Leaders from the business and political worlds were eager to harmonize laws betwee of 1986
• the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992
• the Acts of Accession of Austria, Sweden and Finland (1994)
• the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1997
• the Treaty of NiceThe Treaty of Nice is a treaty adopted in Nice by the European Council to amend the two founding treaties of the European Union: the Treaty on European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, which introduced the Euro and the 3-pillar structure of the EU; the Treaty of 2001
• the Treaty of Accession 2003 of 2003

The various annexes and protocols attached to these treaties are also considered a source of primary legislation.