European Business Law, the fourth volume in our series, shows how the European authorities simultaneously abolish all restrictions on access to and exercise of economic activities and support the growth of domestic markets, through the harmonization the internal legislation or the enactment of genuinely unified regulations.

European Business Law

In accordance with the principle of cooperation laid down in Article 4 TEU, ensuring the legal protection arising, for individuals, from the direct effect of the provisions of European law is the duty of the national courts . Where there is no European regulation in the area in question, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts having jurisdiction and to det …

Rules safeguarding the rights of individuals

In accordance with the principle of cooperation laid down in Article 4 TEU, ensuring the legal protection arising, for individuals, from the direct effect of the provisions of European law is the duty of the national courts . Where there is no European regulation in the area in question, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to designate the courts having jurisdiction and to determine the procedural conditions governing actions at law intended to ensure the protection of the rights which individuals have from the direct effect of European law . 

However, the procedural autonomy of the Member States must not jeopardize the useful effect of the Treaty. The procedural conditions defined by the Member States cannot be less favorable than those relating to similar actions of a domestic nature  and must not make it virtually impossible to exercise rights that the national courts have a duty to protect . Thus, where they are reasonable, periods of limitation of actions are only an application of the fundamental principle of legal certainty which protects both the authorities and the individual concerned and may therefore validly be relied on against the latter's action . Likewise, a national court may, without breaching European law, apply a national rule which bars a party to a contract that is liable to restrict or distort competition, from relying on his own unlawful actions to obtain damages, where it is established that that party bears significant responsibility for distortion of competition . Where the EU is party to an international agreement, it is for the domestic legal system of each Member State to interpret the procedural rules governing actions for safeguarding rights which individuals derive from that provision, even if the agreement does not have direct effect .

Each Member State is required, under domestic law, to ensure that individuals obtain reparation for damage caused to them by non-compliance with European law in similar conditions than those of liability actions under domestic law . Therefore, a national rule cannot make reparation for the damage caused dependent on the fact that the legislature's act or omission refers to an individual situation, whereas the tasks falling to the national legislature relate, in principle, to the public at large, or on proof of misfeasance in public office . 

Case 33/76 Rewe v Landwirtschaftskammer für das Saarland [1976] ECR 1989, LawLex200900001992JBJ.

Case 45/76 Comet BV v Produktschap voor Siergewassen [1976] ECR 2043, LawLex200900001993JBJ.

Case 68/79 Just [1980] ECR 501, LawLex200900002032JBJ.

Case C-46/93 Brasserie du pêcheur v Bundesrepublik Deutschland and The Queen v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte Factortame and others [1996] ECR I-1029, LawLex200900000955JBJ.

Case 33/76 Rewe v Landwirtschaftskammer für das Saarland [1976] ECR 1989, LawLex200900001992JBJ; Case 45/76 Comet BV v Produktschap voor Siergewassen [1976] ECR 2043, LawLex200900001993JBJ; Case 68/79 Just [1980] ECR 501, LawLex200900002032JBJ: as regards an action for the repayment of charged unduly levied.

Case C-453/99 Courage and Crehan [2001] ECR I-6297, LawLex200500004898JBJ.

Case C-240/09 Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK [2011] ECR I-1255, LawLex201100001073JBJ.

Case C-6/90 Francovich and Bonifaci v Italy [1991] ECR I-5357, LawLex200900001066JBJ; C-5/94 The Queen v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Hedley Lomas (Ireland) [1996] ECR I-2553, LawLex200900000989JBJ; Case C-302/97 Konle [1999] ECR I-3099, LawLex200900001444JBJ.

European Business Law

188. Rules safeguarding the rights of individuals

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

188. Rules safeguarding the rights of individuals

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise