Editing Minimum harmonisation (section)

{{Short description|Term used in EU law}}
'''Minimum harmonisation''' is a term used in [[European Union law]].

Minimum harmonisation describes a piece of law (usually a [[directive (European Union)|directive]] but occasionally a [[regulation (European Union)|regulation]]) that sets a threshold national legislation must meet. EU Member State national legislation may exceed the terms of minimum harmonisation law.  

Much EU legislation has been implemented on a minimum harmonization basis as it can be easier to reach agreement, allowing existing EU Member State national legislation on issues such as [[consumer protection]] or [[environment (biophysical)|the environment]] to remain in place. 

In more recent years, the burden of EU law has led to calls for [[deregulation]] and accusations that some member states indulge in [[protectionism]] when implementing directives into EU Member State national law by [[gold-plating (European Union law)|gold-plating]]. Therefore, on the opposite end of the regulation spectrum, a growing minority of EU law contains [[maximum harmonisation]] provisions.

It is quite common for a directive or recommendation to consist of a mixture of minimum harmonisation and maximum harmonisation clauses.