INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents a general introduction to two legal concepts which, either each on their own or in concerted action, serve to ensure the effectiveness of EU law, namely direct effect (section 2.2.) and primacy (section 2.3.). To properly grasp the direct and indirect effects of the TFEU on legal relationships between individuals and to distinguish the different mechanisms by which such effects are produced, it is essential to have a good understanding of both concepts and of how they interact (section 2.4.).

DIRECT EFFECT

On 9 September 1960 a Dutch transport company, Van Gend & Loos, imported a quantity of urea formaldehyde from Germany and with respect to this importation paid the Netherlands Inland Revenue Administration statutory import duty, at a rate which several months earlier had been increased from 3 per cent to 8 per cent. Van Gend & Loos believed that this increase infringed Article 12 EEC, which read as follows:

A Member State that infringed Article 12 EEC could be held liable by the European Commission or another Member State for its failure to respect what then was still Community law via the procedures of Articles 169 and 170 EEC (now Articles 258 and 259 TFEU). In spite of the fact that it was unclear at the time whether the EEC Treaty also off ered individuals the opportunity to enforce observance by the Member States of this negative obligation, Van Gend & Loos relied on Article 12 EEC before the national courts to obtain repayment by the Netherlands Inland Revenue Administration of the additional amount it had paid in import duties. Th e Administrative Court for Customs and Excise (Tariefcommissie) then requested the Court of Justice to give a preliminary ruling under Article 177 EEC (now Article 267 TFEU) on the question