shared competence

noun · geteilte Zuständigkeit

Shared competence is the geteilte Zuständigkeit of Art. 2 Abs. 2 AEUV: Union and member states may both legislate, but the states only sofern und soweit the Union has not exercised its competence, and they resume where the Union steps back. The German ear hears konkurrierende Gesetzgebung from the Grundgesetz; the Treaty word is geteilt, and the pre-emption is element-wise, not field-wide.

Which translation, when

geteilte Zuständigkeit, die Mechanikthe rule: under Art. 2 Abs. 2 AEUV both the Union and the member states may legislate and adopt binding acts; the member states exercise their competence sofern und soweit the Union has not exercised hers, and they exercise it again sofern und soweit the Union has decided to cease exercising hers, so the occupation of the field is conditional and reversible.

elementweise Sperrethe reach: Protokoll Nr. 25 confines the effect, the exercise of a shared competence covers only the elements governed by the Union act in question, not the whole area, so national law survives around the edges of every regulation and directive rather than falling with the field.

der Katalogthe fields: Art. 4 Abs. 2 names the principal areas, among them the internal market, aspects of social policy, cohesion, agriculture and fisheries short of marine conservation, environment, consumer protection, transport, energy and the area of freedom, security and justice.

Parallelzuständigkeiten und Wortfeldthe edges: in research and space and in development cooperation and humanitarian aid, Art. 4 Abs. 3 und 4, the Union may act without barring the member states, competence runs in parallel; the German reader hears konkurrierende Gesetzgebung, Art. 72 GG, in this mechanic, a helpful echo and a false friend in drafting, the Treaty word is geteilt, and the machine calque gemeinsame Zuständigkeit suggests joint exercise where the Treaty means conditional coexistence.

Why

Shared competence translates as geteilte Zuständigkeit, and the entry earns its place because the mechanics are easy to flatten in either language. Art. 2 Abs. 2 AEUV lets both the Union and the member states legislate and adopt binding acts in the shared fields; the member states exercise their competence sofern und soweit the Union has not exercised hers, and they take it up again sofern und soweit the Union decides to stop, the famous double clause making the occupation of the field both conditional and reversible. Protokoll Nr. 25 then trims the blade: the exercise of a shared competence covers only the elements governed by the Union act in question, not the whole area, so a directive on package travel does not empty national contract law, it displaces the rules it actually governs. The principal fields stand in Art. 4 Abs. 2, among them the internal market, aspects of social policy, economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and fisheries short of the conservation of marine biological resources, environment, consumer protection, transport, energy and the area of freedom, security and justice; and Art. 4 Abs. 3 und 4 add the parallel layer, research, technological development and space, development cooperation and humanitarian aid, where Union action does not bar the member states at all. For the German reader the mechanic rhymes with konkurrierende Gesetzgebung under Art. 72 GG, a useful echo for understanding and a false friend in drafting, since the Treaty word is geteilt, not konkurrierend; and the machine calque gemeinsame Zuständigkeit misleads twice, suggesting joint exercise where the Treaty means conditional coexistence under pre-emption. The exercise rules that discipline the Union in these fields, subsidiarity and proportionality, live in their own entries, as does the internal-market approximation power that is the most-used shared competence in practice.

Typical mistakes

The pre-emption is element-wise, Protokoll Nr. 25, so writing that Union action closes the whole field overstates the blade.
Konkurrierende Gesetzgebung is the Grundgesetz echo, not the Treaty word, and gemeinsame Zuständigkeit suggests joint exercise, the drafting word is geteilt.
Research, space, development cooperation and humanitarian aid run in parallel, Art. 4 Abs. 3 und 4, so applying the sofern-und-soweit bar there misstates the category.

What matters

Drafting the German version of a governance chapter: say geteilte Zuständigkeit for the Art. 4 fields, keep the sofern-und-soweit mechanic and its element-wise reach visible, and flag the parallel fields where member states stay free.

Authority

Art. 2 Abs. 2 AEUV
Art. 4 AEUV

What the machine misses

Fed to a machine, shared competence comes back as gemeinsame Zuständigkeit or konkurrierende Zuständigkeit, one suggesting joint exercise, the other importing the Grundgesetz; the category is the geteilte Zuständigkeit of Art. 2 Abs. 2 AEUV, member states acting sofern und soweit the Union has not, with Protokoll Nr. 25 keeping the pre-emption element-wise, and both machine words erase that conditional architecture.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

shared competence	geteilte Zuständigkeit
competence shared between the Union and the member states	eine zwischen der Union und den Mitgliedstaaten geteilte Zuständigkeit
the member states shall exercise their competence	die Mitgliedstaaten nehmen ihre Zuständigkeit wahr
to the extent that the Union has not exercised its competence	sofern und soweit die Union ihre Zuständigkeit nicht ausgeübt hat