Do Norms Travel Unchanged? The Andean Community, its Court of Justice, and the Challenge of Regional Integration

18 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2009 Last revised: 22 Sep 2009

See all articles by Osvaldo Saldías

Osvaldo Saldías

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

Regional integration has been a goal in Latin America since several decades, although most initiatives have featured negative integration. During the 80s however, the Andean Group (later Andean Community) established its Court of Justice modeled on the European Court of ustice along with the system of remedies inspired in the European procedures of preliminary ruling, with the hope that this would bolster the process of legal, economic, and political integration. The outcome has not been the expected. Nevertheless, regional integration outcome has been poor. In the 27 years of existence of the Andean Court, the Community has not been able to establish its customs union, which has been subsequently postponed by intergovernmental decisions, and only in 1995 an mperfect customs union could be announced.

This paper addresses the issue that although legal procedures, ractices, and jargon where incorporated into the aquis of the judicial dimension of the Community, norms have evolved differently in its new context. It shows that even thoroughly copied concepts like supranationality, direct effect and supremacy are different in both settings. This gives the impression that norms do not travel unchanged. However, behind the changes there are preconceptions and expectations that affect norms even before the actual arrival.

Suggested Citation

Saldías, Osvaldo, Do Norms Travel Unchanged? The Andean Community, its Court of Justice, and the Challenge of Regional Integration (2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1450394

Osvaldo Saldías (Contact Author)

Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society ( email )

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