Private autonomy at Union level: On Article 16 CFREU and free movement rights

The article explores the potential role and significance of the freedom to conduct a business under Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) in developing a principled approach towards the protection of private (economic) autonomy at Union level. This is an issue of particular concern given the uncertainty pertaining to the actual extent of the horizontal direct effect attributed to free movement rights and the lack of consistency in the approach giving effect to the notion of individual economic freedom in this regard. The article, therefore, aims to draw the contours of private (economic) autonomy at Union level by contrasting Article 16 of the Charter with free movement rights and considering their interplay from both conceptual and functional perspectives.