Week 5: The Hierarchy of Norms in EU Law: Focus on Secondary Legislation
Cíle předmětu
EU Secondary Legislation, Including an Analysis of Selected Court of Justice Case Law
Background Study Material
Detailed Analysis of Selected CJEU Case Law
Previously Discussed Cases as the Foundations of EU Secondary Legislation
Fundamentals of EU law
Van Gend en Loos
The Court delivered what might be its most famous judgment in a case called Van Gend en Loos (1963).
A Dutch court asked the Court of Justice whether national courts could themselves apply an EU law that forbid countries from increasing customs tariffs on trade within the EU. The Dutch authorities had increased tariffs on certain chemicals. The transport company, Van Gend en Loos, had been asked to pay these higher tariffs when importing chemicals from Germany to the Netherlands, and so it had taken a case to a national court. The Court of Justice agreed that the national court had to apply EU law. This created the doctrine of “direct effect”. It means that individuals can directly rely on certain rules of EU law in disputes before national courts.
Costa v ENEL
One year later, in Costa v ENEL (1964), the Court established another major principle.
An Italian court asked the Court of Justice for guidance on a conflict between an EU law and a subsequent Italian law nationalising an electricity company. The Court ruled that, in cases of conflict, EU law is “supreme” and that the national law must be set aside. This is called the doctrine of “supremacy” or “primacy” of EU law.
Together, the doctrines of direct effect and supremacy are the cornerstones of EU law.
Francovich
The Court continued to shape important principles of EU law in the years that followed. In Andrea Francovich and Others v Italian Republic (1991), it introduced the principle of “state liability”.
A group of Italian workers lost their wages when their employer went bankrupt. An EU Directive had been adopted that aimed to protect employees in such a situation. However, Italy had not implemented this Directive in its own national legal system. The workers complained that they were harmed because of Italy’s failure. The Court said that an EU country can be sued by individuals for harm caused by its failure to comply with EU law.
