Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Actions against a Member State for failure to fulfil obligations ° Judgment of the Court of Justice finding a failure to fulfil obligations ° Period within which the judgment must be complied with

(EEC Treaty, Art. 171)

2. Actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations ° Judgment of the Court of Justice finding a failure to fulfil obligations ° Effects ° Obligations incumbent on the authorities of the Member State in default ° Obligation to ensure compliance with judgment ° Implications ° Adoption of measures designed to prolong that failure ° Not permissible

(EEC Treaty, Arts 5 and 171)

Summary

1. The immediate and uniform application of Community law requires that the process of compliance with a judgment must be initiated immediately and must be completed as soon as possible.

2. A finding by the Court that a Member State has failed to fulfil its obligations under Community law entails, first, an automatic prohibition on the application, by both the judicial and administrative authorities of that Member State, of the national legislation which is incompatible with Community law and, secondly, an obligation on the part of those authorities to take all appropriate measures to facilitate the full application of Community law.

A Member State which, instead of taking the necessary measures to comply with a judgment of the Court of Justice finding that it had failed to fulfil its obligations, actually adopts specific measures to extend the legislation constituting the failure to fulfil obligations, commits a serious and intolerable breach of the duty of Member States under the second paragraph of Article 5 of the Treaty to abstain from any measure which could jeopardize the attainment of the objectives of the Treaty and thereby goes to the very basis of the Community legal order.