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3 - EU Competence to Regulate Unhealthy Lifestyles

from Part I - Regulating Unhealthy Lifestyles in the EU

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2026

Vincent Delhomme
Affiliation:
Leiden University
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Summary

Chapter 3 investigates the EU’s competence to regulate unhealthy lifestyles. Two main rationales for EU intervention in the field can be found in the TFEU. The first, historically and conceptually predominant, is related to the market. EU regulation contributes to the establishment of the EU internal market, by addressing the externalities of Member State lifestyle policies and their restrictive effect on free movement, of goods in particular. This rationale corresponds to broad and functional powers to eliminate trade barriers between Member States, via the EU’s fundamental free movement provisions, so-called negative integration, and the harmonisation of health standard at the EU level, positive integration. The second rationale concerns health as a standalone value, independent of the economic dimension of unhealthy lifestyles. For this rationale, the EU has been granted a much more limited competence. This explains why, in legal terms, EU law on unhealthy lifestyles remains a form of economic and market regulation, with a key role for Article 114 TFEU.

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