The Slovak Republic is one of the two (the other is Czech Republic) successor states established after the political change on 1 January 1993, based on Constitutional Act No. 542/1992 Coll. on the Dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. Slovakia is a unitary state, divided into...

Irish law consists of a written Constitution. The Government in Ireland is divided between a legislature, executive and judiciary. The national legislature (the Oireachtas) comprises the President of Ireland and two houses namely the upper chamber Seanad Eireann and the lower house Dáil...

The Principality of Liechtenstein is one of the smallest countries in Europe, with only 36 000 inhabitants. Political power is shared equally between the elected Parliament/the people and the monarch. The Parliament decides on new legislation, which can be amended by the electorate by means of...

The authority to enact laws is vested in the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag). The Government, however, has the power to issue decrees concerning less important matters. To some extent this power stems directly from the Instrument of Government. But the Government can also be granted authority...

The Portuguese legal system is mainly a statutory law system, headed by the Portuguese Constitution and developed by state legislation. Where employment and industrial relations are concerned, collective agreements are also a key element of the system but they cannot go against mandatory legal...

The Czech legal system belongs to the Germanic branch of continental legal culture. Written law is the basis of the legal order, and the most important sources of law are legal regulations (acts of Parliament, as well as government or ministerial orders), international treaties (once they have...

The legal system of Cyprus is based on common law and equity, except where the Constitution provides otherwise. It is further based on the laws passed by the UK Parliament before Cyprus became independent (Article 29(1)(c) of the Court Law No. 14/60) and on the legislation which the House of...

France has a long-standing tradition of legislating in favour of gender equality in the domain of employment and professional life. The principle of equality between men and women was first recognized in 1946 in the Preamble to the French Constitution. The law of 11 February 1950 first regulated...

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy, consisting of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are not members of the EU. The Danish judicial system is based on the traditions of civil law as in continental Europe and is more or less divided into private law and...

Given the federal structure of Belgium, vocational orientation and training fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federate authorities, i.e. Communities and Regions, which is also true for various other matters such as education (including school staff) or public housing (within the...