Direct effect of European Union law
The principle of direct effect was first established by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Van Gend en Loos v. Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen.Direct effect is applicable when the particular provision relied on fulfils the Van Gend en Loos criteria.[10] However, the ECJ has always resisted a change of the Marshall case law so as to allow a general right to invoke on unimplemented directives against private parties.Further case law to demonstrate this practice is Francovich v Italy, where action could be taken against the government by an individual for their failure to implement a directive and the subsequent loss of rights suffered in court.In Grad v Finanzamt Traunstein,[12] a case involving VAT, the ECJ ruled that a decision could be directly effective, as they imposed an obligation to achieve a required result.[20] In Comet v. Produktschap,[21] the European Court of Justice established that the procedural rules of each member state generally apply to cases of EU law.