The European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-discrimination Field was established in 2004 on the initiative of the European Commission, within the framework of the Community Action Programme to Combat Discrimination (2001-2006). The aim was to provide the Commission with independent advice on all the grounds of discrimination covered by Directive 2000/43/EC and Directive 2000/78/EC. The network covers all EU Member States and (since 2010) the candidate countries Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Turkey.
The network was a follow-up to three separate networks, one of which dealt with racial or ethnic origin and religion or belief, one with disability and one with sexual orientation. These networks covered the 15 Member States which existed at the time. The new network was established in the form of a service contract, which has been tendered twice. For both the period of the first three years and for a succeeding period of four years (to the end of 2011) the contract was awarded to a consortium of Human European Consultancy and the Migration Policy Group (MPG) to manage the network.
The network is composed of country experts and a research team with ground-specific and other specialised experts.
