ExSimGuy,
The problem is that the Brexit advocates never specify the difference between an EU Directive and an EU Regulation. There are relatively few Regulations. And, as Heathrow Harry has pointed out, the European Court of Human Rights is not an EU body at all. I do wish the popular press would be a lot more factual about EU processes.
A Directive is a legal act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result.
A Regulation is a legal act of the European Union that becomes immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously.