Horizontal direct effect of directives : why not?

Abstract

Together with supremacy, direct effect provides a mechanism which makes Community law 'the law of the land'. Direct effect is one of the characteristics which the European Court of Justice deemed necessary for Community law to have to promote the goals of the Community as a whole, and it has been indeed instrumental in the development of the Community legal order. By giving direct effect to Community law the court made the Treaty and the secondary legislation accessible to individuals in the national courts. The Treaty was declared by the court to create not only obligations but also rights for individuals which the national courts were obliged to protect. It was as early as in Costa v ENEL when the court said that 'by contrast with ordinary international treaties, the EEC Treaty has created its own legal system which ... became an integral part of the legal systems of the Member States and which their courts are bound to apply'. The court intended Community law to become at one with the national legal orders and thus applicable as the law of the land. However, in practice it cannot be exactly like this because not all Community legislation is capable of direct effect since not all provisions satisfy the necessary conditions.