Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is the European Union's statement of the personal, civil, political, economic and social rights recognised within its legal order. The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission solemnly proclaimed it on 7 December 2000, and the consolidated text on EUR-Lex adapts that wording. After a preamble that grounds the Union in the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity, it sets out its provisions in seven titles: Dignity, Freedoms, Equality, Solidarity, Citizens' Rights, Justice, and General Provisions Governing the Interpretation and Application of the Charter. Article 1 declares that human dignity is inviolable, and Article 2 gives everyone the right to life and bars the death penalty. Article 51 addresses the Charter to the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union and to the Member States only when they are implementing Union law, and states that the Charter does not extend the field of application of Union law beyond the powers of the Union.