Case-law Flashcards
Costa V Enel
1964
Primacy of EU law over national law
Van Gend & Loos
1963
Direct applicability of EU law in national courts
(individuals can claim rights directly under EU law and enforce rights before national courts)
Cassis de Dijon
1979
Mutual recognition of legality of goods in the common market
Meroni
- 1958
- prohibition to delegate discretionary (political) powers to other bodies (regulatory agencies) than those established by the Treaty
- dismissed by 2014 EVJ case on UK and European Securities and Market Autjority
- It also first formulated the well-known principle of institutional balance
Les Verts v Parliament
- 1986
- ECJ refers to Treaty as constitutional charter
- The case is significant for being the first to suggest that the European Union is based on the “rule of law”
- The Green Party challenged political party funding from the Parliament. They claimed the system was unfair in distribution against newer parties
With the ruling, was declared unlawful the system by which the European political parties were financed with economic resources directly from the budgets of the individual parliamentary groups, which were funded through resources from the general budget of the European Communities. This system gave undue advantages to political entities belonging to an elective institution: for the Court, public resources should be allocated without distinction between parties present in Parliament and those willing to enter it for the first time.
Bosman
- 1995
- Art 45 TFEU, freedom of movement of labour
- The decision banned restrictions on foreign EU players within national leagues and allowed players in the EU to move to another club at the end of a contract without a transfer fee being paid
Transfer fees incompatible with free movement of persons guaranteed under Art. 45 TFEU; restrictions on foreign players are not allowed to discriminate on grounds of nationality (quota on foreigners only for non-EU citizens) –> created Single Market in football.
Nold v Commission
- 1974
- Fundamental human rights, as defined in MSs’ constitutional traditions, are integral part of ECJ’s general principles.
ECJ reiterated that human rights are an integral part of the general principles of European Union law and that as such the European Court of Justice was bound to draw inspiration from the constitutional traditions common to the MS
Royer
- 1976
- Royer, a French national, sought the right to renain in Belgium as a jobseeker.
- Right of establishment of a national of a MS in another MS independently of a residence permit being issued.
Jobseeker right of entry and residence.
Commission v Council (ERTA judgment) (case law)
- 31 March 1971
- Commission’s right to conclude international agreements in fields where EU law applies. establishment of the ‘implied external powers’ doctrine, better known as the ERTA doctrine (supervening exclusivity)
- Relating to the European Road Transport Agreement (ERTA), a Council ‘resolution’ settled the negotiating procedure for an upcoming conference. The Commission challenged the resolution as being against EU law
The external powers of the Member States individually, and collectively as the Council, were limited; and were thereafter, to function within the EU system of government.
Schrems I / Schrems II
- 2015 / 2020
- Data protection with respect to EU/US agreements (invalidated ‘safe harbour’ in 2015 and ‘privacy shield’ in 2020, frameworks which were used as legal basis for the transfer of personal data under the EU data protection directive)
The Safe Harbour Agreement was a set of principles that governed the exchange of data between the United States of America and the European Union (and Switzerland). It was ruled invalid by the European Court of Justice on 6 October 2015. The ruling has led to the creation of the EU-US Privacy Shield.
Privacy Shield framework provides for the possibility of lawful transfer of personal data from the EU to the United States (US), while ensuring a strong set of data protection requirements and safeguards.
European Court of Justice (CJEU) decision which found the Privacy Shield, which permitted companies to freely transfer users’ personal data, illegally infringed EU residents’ data protection and privacy rights
Defrenne v Sabena
- 1976
- Equality women/men. Under Belgian law, female flight attendants were obliged to retire at the age of 40, unlike their male counterparts!
- Horizontal direct effect (person vs company): Treaty enforceable not merely between individuals and the government, but also between private parties
- The case was championed by the Belgian lawyer Éliane Vogel-Polsky, who was responsible for much of the heavy involvement in sex discrimination law of the time by the European Court of Justice
Francovich v Italy
- 1991
- A MS is responsible to pay a person for any loss incurred due to delayed transposition of a Directive
- “Principle of state liability”
establish state liability, must prove that specific rights & causal link
Concerned Insolvency Protection Directive - minimum level of insurance for employees with employers insolvent
Rush Portuguesa
- 1990
- Access of labour to market (-> dealt with thereafter in the posting directive adopted in 1996)
Simmenthal
- 1978
- Primacy of EU law: the Court declared that all national courts – including ‘lower’ national courts – were under an obligation to apply European law in place of contrary national legal obligations, even if national constitutional rules restricted such powers to the national constitutional court
Internationale Handelsgesellschaft
- 1970
- Primacy of EU law including over MSs’ constitutionals right (-> contributed to defining a EU charter of fundamental rights)
