The application of EU law can be made through two different instruments:

• Regulations: They are the fastest form of EU law, in the moment they are approved they become immediately enforceable in every member state. Regulations self-executing, this means that national governments do not need to take any action to implement them. In this way, European institutions can be sure that legislation is uniformly applied everywhere in the Union.
• Directives: They are legislative acts of the EU that establish a particular result to be achieved by member states and a deadline to do so. The difference with the regulation is that in this case countries are free to decide how to attain this. With this kind of laws, the peculiarity of every country is taken into account.