Direct Supremacy and State Liability Flashcards
The Principle of Subsidiarity
Actions done on an EU level act on items that cannot be sufficiently enacted on a member state basis
Principle of Proportionality
The EU shall not act beyond its powers drafted in the treaties
Direct Effect
Some provisions of EU law confer rights on individuals, which can be enforced in national courts
Direct Applicability
The doctrine whereby a treaty article or regulation is automatically a part of the member state’s legal system
Direct Applicability of Directives
Directives are not directly applicable as they must be implemented in national legislation
Direct Applicability of Treaty Articles
van Gend en Loos
Treaty Articles are directly effective. The EU treaty constituted a ‘new legal order’ that imposes both rights and obligations on individuals and the state.
EU law is supreme over national laws
Costa
Simmental (individuals gain rights at the cost of a MS sovereignty).
The scope of EU law is unlimited and takes place over MS primary law
Solange I (Internationale handelsgesellschaft) - as well as secondary law (Costa)
Member State courts must set aside any domestic law that is contrary to EU law
Simmenthal
The acceptance of supremacy was voluntary and the UK agreed to be bound by the supremacy of EU law
Factortame
- UK agreed in the passing of the European Communities Act 1972
The UK Parliament chose to be bound by EU law and so courts must set aside conflicting domestic law
Thornburn v Sunderland CC
Domestic courts are under an obligation to follow EU laws because parliament has directed them to do so
R(Miller) v SS for Exiting the EU
So long as what the EU does is constant with rights protected under German constitution, German courts will accept the supremacy of EU law
Solange II
German Courts will intervene if the EU goes further than the treaties will allow and will not give the law in question supremacy
Brunner
If there is a clash with EU law, the Polish Law would be supreme
Polish Constitutional Court Judgement 2005
The conditions for direct effect of Treaty Articles and Regulations
Set out in VGL
- Clear and Precise
- Unconditional
The ‘clear and precise’ requirements of treaty direct effect
Set out in Coop Agricola Zootecnica
- must give rise to identifiable rights
- the obligation must be set out in unequivocal terms
The unconditional requirements of treaty direct effect
Set out in Coop Agricola Zootecnica
- the provision does not depend on other measures
- the state has no discretion in tis implementation
Horizontal and Vertical effect of Treaty Articles
- Horizontal effect (Defrenne)
- Vertical effect (VGL)
- therefore obligations can be enforced against both individuals and the state.
Positive and negative direct effect of treaty articles
- can impose a negative obligation (VGL)
- can impose a positive obligation (Lutticke (Alfons))
Direct effect of reccomendations and opinions
- no direct effect as they are not binding (Grimaldi)
Direct Effect of Regulations
- Regulations are directly applicable
- Regulations are directly effective if they satisfy the conditions set out in VGL (clear, precise + unconditional)
- they have both vertical and horizontal direct effect.
The direct effect of Directives
- only have vertical direct effect (van Duyn)
- not horizontal direct effect (Marshall v Southampton AHA) because they are implemented by member states.
Conditions for the direct effect of directives
Article 288
- sufficiently clear, precise + unconditional (VGL)
- It must have been implemented incorrectly (Ratti)
- The implementation date must have passed (Ratti)
- The action must be against the state, not the emanation of the state (Marshall v Southampton)
The scenario’s of an incorrectly implemented directive
- It has not been implemented at all (Ratti)
- It has been implemented partially or incorrectly (VNO v Inspecteur)
- It has been correctly implemented but incorrectly applied by national authorities (Marks + Spencer)
What is an ‘emanation of the state’
Two tests (Foster v British Gas)
- Tripartite test: cumulative
- Bipartite test: only one must be satisfied (Kampelmann)