3 - Institutions of the EU

Question 1

Indirect Effect

Answer 1

• Allows directives to be horizontally effective (it can include the courts as “state”) - Van Colson v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (1984) - Lister v Forth Dry Dock (1989)

Question 2

What kind of company can be seen and treated as the state ?

Answer 2

• Provides a public service - Under the control of the state - Has special powers beyond those of individuals - Foster v British Gas PLC (1990)

Question 3

Vertical Effect

Answer 3

Enforcement under EU Law against the state and all government departments and public institutions (e.g. schools, etc.)

Question 4

What is the primary legislation of EU law

Answer 4

Treaties

Question 5

Treaties

Answer 5

• Primary legislation of the EU - Horizontal and vertical direct effect - Van Gend en Loos (1963) -> Clear and unconditional -> Prohibition -> Not dependent on member state implementation

Question 6

Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen (1963) ECJ

Answer 6

established that provisions of the Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community were capable of creating legal rights which could be enforced by both natural and legal persons before the courts of the Community’s member states. This is now called the principle of direct effect.[1] The case is acknowledged as being one of the most important, and possibly the most famous development of European Union law.[1]

Question 7

Regulations

Answer 7

• Automatically part of EU law and member state law - Horizontal and vertical direct effect

Question 8

Directives

Answer 8

• Require member states to do something within a certain limit of time - Have ONLY vertical direct effect - Must give rights to individuals -> Defrenne v SABENA (no.2) (1979) - The time limiti must have passed -> Pubblico Ministero v Ratti (1979)

Question 9

How to solve a direct effect problem question in the exam?

Answer 9

• Definition - Whom are they going to enforece their rights against to ? - Do we have horizontal or vertical direct effect ? - Cite the case authority - Which kind of EU law is involved ?

Question 10

What is the secondary legislation of the EU law

Answer 10

• Directives
• Regulations
• Decisions

Question 11

Case law of the ECJ

Answer 11

There is no doctrine of precedent in the European Courts as there is in the English courts. However, preliminary rulings of the European Courts must be followed by the national courts under the doctrine of supremacy (see Chapter 5) and the ECJ generally follows its own case law, referring to its own ‘consistent case law’. If it intends to reverse a previous ruling, it will usually announce very clearly that it is doing so

Question 12

Chart overview EU Legislation Procedure

Answer 12

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/en

Question 13

The co-decision procedure

Answer 13

The co-decision procedure (now the ordinary legislative procedure)

• introduced by the Maastricht Treaty on European Union and
• gave Parliament the power to veto legislation.

Question 14

The principles of subsidiarity and proportionality Article 5 TEU (ex Article 5 EC)

Answer 14

only apply in areas of shared competence, not in areas where the Union has exclusive
competence

This
states that the Union should act only if:
u the objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, and
u action can be better achieved by the Union for reasons of scale or efficiency

principle of subsidiarity in general states that decisions should be taken at the
lowest level possible, as close to the individual as possible.

in areas of shared
competence, decisions should be taken at the Member State level except where the
objectives of the action cannot be sufficiently achieved by action by the Member
States and therefore for reasons of scale or efficiency should be dealt with at a Union
level