The general principles of the Community law are important part of the acquis. The general principles to be recognised and protected under the Community law are those drawn from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States or drawn from international treaties. The general principles adopted by the ECJ include the principles of equality, proportionality, certainty, the principle of unjust enrichment, procedural rights in the form of a right to a fair hearing, non-retroactivity, protection of legitimate expectations, the right of individuals to pursuer their claims by judicial process after possible recourse to the competent authorities (due process).
The Community legislation has a primacy over national legislation of the Member States of the European Union. That is the most particular characteristic of the Acquis communautaire . Primacy means the relation between the national legislation and the Community legislation. In the meantime the primacy means the major difference from the international law. The principle of the primacy of the Community legislation was interpreted by the European Court of Justice on the basis of the Treaties and the objectives of the foundators. The principle of the supremacy of the EC law is a creation of the ECJ, designed to ensure the effective and uniform application of Community law. The ECJ stated in the Case Costa v. ENEL 6/64 that by creating a Community with its own institutions, legal personality and competences, the Member States have transferred part of their sovereignty to the EU, therefore they have limited part of their sovereignty in certain policy areas. The ECJ in an other judgment in the Case Simmenthal II confirmed the primacy of the Community law by stating that national courts shall interpret national legislation in the lights of the acquis, safeguard the rights established therein and disregards provisions of national legislation which are inconsistent with the Community law. The directly applicable rules of the Community law must be fully and uniformly applied in all the Member States from the date of their entry into force. The primacy of the Community law means also that Member States bring their legislation in line with the acquis and they cannot unilatterally amend or annul EC norms. The primacy also means that the acquis has priority over the national legislation irrespective of the level of the certain national legal norm. It includes the primacy of the acquis over the national Constitutions. In practice it is the national Constitution to be amended in the case of incompliance with the EC rules. The primacy of the acquis is closely linked with the pre-emption clause. It means that in certain policy areas where the EU has exclusive power or where the Community ruling is exhaustive, national legislation shall not be adopted. Once the Community, in implementing a common policy, lays down common rules, Member States no longer have the right individually or collectively, to contract obligations towards non- Member States effecting these common rules. Despite initial constitutional problems national courts have largely accepted the principle of the supremacy of directly effective Community law.
Second important general principle of the EC is the direct effect of the Community legislation. The direct effect means that natural persons and legal entities can refer to Community law in national courts and can claim before the national court on the ground of the acquis. Where it is directly effective it can be invoked to challenge or avoid the application of domestic measures which are inconsistent with Community law. The definition of the direct effect was also developed by the ECJ. In the Case Van Gend and Loos 26/62 the ECJ states that the provisions of the Treaties can be referred in the judicial proceedings. In this case an individual was held entitled to invoke Article 12 of the EC Treaty, which requires Member States to refrain from introducing between themselves any new customs duties on imports or exports or any charges having equivalent effect. Treaty provisions, regulations and sometimes directives and decisions have direct effect. In order to be directly effective or must satisfy the criteria for direct effects. It must be unconditional and sufficiently precise, it must leave no discretion in implementation to Member States or Community institutions. It must be legally perfect, capable of application by national courts. The principle of direct effect has two aspects: (1) vertical direct effect when natural and legal persons rely on Community law in a claim against a Member State, (2) horizontal direct effect when they rely on the acquis in claims between themselves. It is important to note that directives have direct effect after the transposition deadline determined by them. It means that the direct effect principle is also an enforcing measure for Member States to timely transpose the directives into the national legal order. There are other ECJ judgement explaining the direct effect principle, for example the Francovich case 6/90 or the Marleasing case 106/89. These cases can be found in the ECJ database http://www.curia.eu.int.
The third important EC law principle is the principle of state liability for breach of Community law. It means that the state may be liable to make good damage to individuals caused by a breach of Community law for which it is responsible. The Court held that failure by a Member State to take all necessary steps to achieve the results required by a piece of Community legislation (for example by a Directive) gives rise to obtain damages based directly on Community law.
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