This work compares the role of the Commission and national administrations in supervising and enforcing EC law. It examines what powers have been granted, what constraints exist, when the Commission and national administrations are treated differently, and if that difference is justified.

The book relies primarily on an analysis of legislation, case-law and the most relevant legal rules, but also draws on the literature in political science and public management. This analysis is supplemented by the results of questionnaires and interviews with both national and Commission officials comparing their different views.

Introduction: relevance of this study
method of analysis, purpose of the research and main contents. Part 1 Preliminary clarifications - words, concepts and contents: supervision, enforcement, administration and EC law - introduction, effectiveness, implementation, application, supervision and enforcement, the concept of "administration" at community and national levels, a suitable EC rule for enforcement, summary and conclusions
competences, powers and procedures - introduction, the general problem of the division of powers between the community and the member states, an attempt at clarification - competences, powers and procedures, the power of ensuring the application of EC law, summary and conclusions - the need to analyse procedures. Part II Procedures for supervising and enforcing EC law: obtaining information - community versus national inspectors - obtaining information - preliminary remarks, Commission inspectorates and other means of requesting information - legal framework, Commission's power to request and receive information and member states' duty to provide it, national inspectors and limits to their action, limits to Commission inspectorates - interaction with national inspectorates, summary and conclusion
pursuing infringements in EC law - introduction, infringement procedures created by the EC treaty, infringement procedures created by secondary legislation without a clear legal basis in the treaty, criteria to make procedures more coherent and efficient - building on success, some possible explanations of the creation of reinforced procedures, summary and conclusion
limits on the use of administrative procedures - introduction, limits on the use of infringement procedures - the case of the Article 169 procedure, a particular case - breaches committed by regions or states within a federal system which have been granted political autonomy, a "non-legal" limit - lack of capacity of administrations as a general problem, an alternative approach - different capacities require different strategies, summary and conclusions. Part III Selected aspects of the administrative supervision and enforcement of EC law: time constraints - introduction, two different approaches to time constraints, time constraints in EC infringement procedures, summary and suggestions for improvement - towards a new model?
the problem of discretion - introduction, the need for discretion in supervising and enforcing EC law, a key preliminary phase - discretion of administrations in interpreting the meaning and purpose of EC law, the discretion of member states in enforcing and supervising community law, the Commission's discretion in infringement procedures, limits on Commission discretion, summary and conclusions
the problem of co-ordination - introduction, the problem of co-ordination within administrations, problems of co-ordination between the Commission and national administrations in supervising and enforcing EC law (Part Contents).