Abstract

As is well known and recognized since the famous Van Gend en Loos judgment, the European Union is an autonomous legal system, although integrated with that of the Member States. This system has determined its sources that, as legal tradition, we can distinguish in first level, second level and third level sources, depending on the different nature, the different mode of production and the different strength. At the relationship between these sources is dedicated the present work which, after having identified which sources are qualified as primary law, focuses on the criteria that regulate their relations. To then highlight how, the second level sources are regulated not only by the classical criteria (hierarchy, time and specialty), but also by the criteria of competence.