Equality Law in Practice

The working group Equality Law in Practice (formerly Dynamic Interpretation) focuses on the interpretation of legal concepts and issues in anti-discrimination legislation. It mainly concentrates on securing equality at the highest possible level, with a view to harmonised implementation of EU law in this area.

The working group takes a practical approach to the interpretation of EU equality and non-discrimination at the national level. In order to asses the pan-European application of anti-discrimination law it undertakes a comparative analysis of several real-life case studies.  

Each year three cases are chosen from suggestions put forward by members of the working group. Each case chosen for analysis is picked on the basis that it relates to various grounds and fields of discrimination; this approach is taken in order to maximise the opportunities for members to contribute and to ensure that cases provide a good overview of the range of practices in the EU.

The chosen cases are then presented by the responsible member, highlighting key findings and conclusions. Then, using the factual details of the chosen cases, group members are asked to respond to a number of questions regarding the way in which their own national law would have been applied in each case. The responses are then analysed from a comparative perspective, discussed at a group meeting and then the overall conclusions are then drawn up by the working group and presented in a report.

The questions given to members about the cases are based on the structure of the European Equality directives; this allows any exceptions that are written into the Directives but not implemented in each country to be taken into account. Working from this European perspective enables the working group to identify gaps and obstacles in national legislation and practices.

The strength of this method of work is that the analysis of each case is based on the practices of Equality bodies, which work with the various European equality directives in their daily practice. The case analysis performed by the Working Group also enables them to identify the possibility of Equinet Members performing strategic litigation in the European Courts.

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