exclusive competence

noun · ausschließliche Zuständigkeit

Exclusive competence is the ausschließliche Zuständigkeit of Art. 2 Abs. 1 AEUV: in the listed fields only the Union legislates and adopts binding acts, the member states acting solely under Union authorisation or to implement Union acts. The Treaty word is Zuständigkeit, the literature also says Kompetenz, and the catalogue of Art. 3 is short and closed.

Which translation, when

ausschließliche Zuständigkeit, die Mechanikthe rule: under Art. 2 Abs. 1 AEUV, where the Treaties confer exclusive competence, only the Union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts; the member states may act only if empowered by the Union to do so, or to implement Union acts, so national lawmaking in these fields is borrowed, never original.

der Katalogthe fields: Art. 3 Abs. 1 lists them, the customs union, the competition rules needed for the internal market, monetary policy for the euro states, the conservation of marine biological resources under the fisheries policy, and the common commercial policy; Art. 3 Abs. 2 adds the external layer, exclusive competence to conclude international agreements where a legislative act so provides, where conclusion is necessary for exercising an internal competence, or where common rules could be affected or their scope altered.

Wort und Nachbarnthe vocabulary: the Treaty says Zuständigkeit throughout Art. 2 bis 6, the literature freely says Kompetenz, both are readable and the contract language is the safer register; the machine blend exklusive Kompetenz reads as marketing German; subsidiarity operates only outside these fields, held by the subsidiarity entry, and where competences come from at all is conferral, held by its own entry.

Why

Exclusive competence translates as ausschließliche Zuständigkeit, and the pair is mostly a register question with one structural point underneath. The structure first: Art. 2 Abs. 1 AEUV defines the category by its mechanics, only the Union legislates and adopts binding acts, and the member states act solely if empowered by the Union or to implement Union acts, so whatever a national parliament does in these fields it does on borrowed authority. The fields are few and listed in Art. 3 Abs. 1, the customs union, the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market, monetary policy for the member states whose currency is the euro, the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy and the common commercial policy, with Art. 3 Abs. 2 adding exclusivity for concluding international agreements where a legislative act provides for it, where conclusion is necessary to exercise an internal competence, or where common rules could be affected or their scope altered. Everything else in the competence order is a different category, the geteilte Zuständigkeit with its pre-emption mechanics has its own entry, subsidiarity as an exercise rule bites only outside exclusivity and is held by the subsidiarity entry, and the question where Union competences come from at all is conferral, again its own entry. On the words: the Treaty says Zuständigkeit from Art. 2 through Art. 6, the German literature says Kompetenz just as readily, and a translation aimed at drafting register does well to follow the Treaty; the machine blend exklusive Kompetenz or exklusive Zuständigkeit carries the club-door adjective into constitutional law, where the drafting word is ausschließlich.

Typical mistakes

Member states legislate in these fields only if empowered by the Union or to implement Union acts, so a rendering that leaves room for original national lawmaking misstates Art. 2 Abs. 1.
The Art. 3 catalogue is short and closed, so widening exclusive competence to any field the Union has merely regulated confuses exclusivity with exercised shared competence.
Exklusive Kompetenz and exklusive Zuständigkeit are machine blends, the drafting word is ausschließlich, and the Treaty noun is Zuständigkeit.

What matters

An EU policy briefing heading into German: keep ausschließliche Zuständigkeit for the Art. 3 fields, resist the club-door adjective exklusiv, and route pre-emption talk to the shared-competence vocabulary where it belongs.

Authority

Art. 2 Abs. 1 AEUV
Art. 3 AEUV

What the machine misses

The translation engine writes exklusive Kompetenz for exclusive competence, a blend the Treaty never uses; the category is the ausschließliche Zuständigkeit of Art. 2 Abs. 1 AEUV with the short closed catalogue of Art. 3, only the Union legislating and the member states acting on borrowed authority, and the club-door adjective hides exactly that constitutional edge.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

exclusive competence	ausschließliche Zuständigkeit
the Union has exclusive competence in the customs union	die Union hat die ausschließliche Zuständigkeit für die Zollunion
falls within the exclusive competence of the Union	fällt in die ausschließliche Zuständigkeit der Union
competences conferred on the Union	der Union übertragene Zuständigkeiten