Do âmbito de aplicação da Carta dos direitos fundamentais da União Europeia: em que situações estão os Estados-membros vinculados às suas disposições?

From very early on, fundamental rights were protected in the European Union. Given the vastness of the areas covered by its remit, this could not be otherwise. In that context, the CFREU is an important milestone in the evolution of the protection of fundamental rights, and Member States have an explicit duty to enforce the rights and principles flowing from it. In its own terms, they have a duty to respect, promote and observe them whenever any situation arises under EU law. Now, since European Union law applies at the national level and domestic policy-making is unavoidably influenced by it, and since the Charter binds Member States "only when they implement Union law", this paper aims to determine its actual scope of application. In this sense, the jurisprudence of the CJEU has played a central role, setting limits to the application of the fundamental rights recognized by the Charter. As such, this work translates into a reflection on whether the CJEU is expanding or restricting its real scope of protection. In March 2021, we received an invitation to teach an open class as part of the master's degree course in European and Comparative Law at the Universidade Portucalense in Porto, specifically in the subject of European Public Law, and the topic we proposed was a reflection on the scope of application of this specific instrument for the protection of fundamental rights. The text that follows served to support our presentation, falling short of all the jurisprudence presented in its lecture.