Community powers are those that are conferred on the EU in specific areas by the Member States.
There are three types of powers, which depend on how they are conferred:
1) Explicit powers: these are clearly defined in the relevant articles of the Treaties.
2) Implicit powers: according to the implicit powers theory, competence in external matters derives from explicit internal competence. Where the Treaties assign explicit powers to the Community in a particular area (e.g. transport), it must also have similar powers to conclude agreements with non-Community countries in the same field (the principle of parallelism between internal and external powers).
3) Subsidiary powers: where the Community has no explicit or implicit powers to achieve a Treaty objective concerning the common market, Article 308 of the Treaty establishing the European Community allows the Council, acting unanimously, to take the measures it considers necessary.