Introduction
In the year 2000, the European Union issued directive EC/2000/43, also know as
the “race directive,” a law that is remarkably similar to the American Civil Rights Act of
1965. In it, the EU requires its member states to guarantee equal access in goods and
services, housing, education and vocational training, and employment, regardless of
racial or ethnic origin. The directive also outlaws racial harassment, and demands a shift
in the burden of proof in litigation to the defendant after the plaintiff has proved a prima
facie case. It additionally requires member states to establish an independent agency
“providing independent legal assistance to victims of discrimination in pursuing their
complaints about discrimination; conducting independent surveys; and publishing
independent reports and making recommendations.”
All of these proposals can be linked directly back to the British (American
influenced) anti-discrimination model
which attempts to empower victims of
discrimination with legal rights at the same time that attempts to structure the legal rules
in order to give the victim of discrimination a reasonable opportunity to defending her
right, even when the discriminatory act is difficult to prove, or is institutional and not
The Anglo-American influence over the law is a fact this is often cited by those
in the continental countries that have had to change their policies because of the directive
(supporters argue that it is a good and necessary import, while opponents and skeptics
view it as an externally imposed set of norms that do not fit with the realities and
1
Citing Chapter 3, Article 13, Section 2 of Council Directive 2000/43/EC.
2
Le Figaro made the point well in its article on the directive “Discrimination: Bruxelles veut mettre
l’Europe au régime anglias” 24 January 2000, Internationales section. And, Andrew Geddes and Virginie
Guiraudon, make a first attempt at explaining why the British model was the basis for the directive in their
article, “Anti-discrimination Policy: The Emergence of a EU Policy Paradigm Amidst Contrasted National
Models', West European Politics, 27(2), 2004.
3
Direct discrimination is an act where the discriminator knowingly discriminates, often in a more clear
way. Indirect or institutional discrimination, on the other hand, is often less clear, and has to do with
institutional practices that disadvantage victims based on their protected class. These are illegal even if the
‘discriminator’ doesn’t knowingly or actively try to discriminate.
Convention