Proceedings against member states may be brought by the commission or by other member states, and involve alleged breaches or European law by the country in question. An example of this is in Re Tachographs: C Commission v UK (1979), here a European law was made for all Lorries used to carry dangerous goods to have to be fitted with tachnographs with the thought that it would prevent speeding and driving longer than the permitted hours. The UK had failed to enforce this law. The commission usually does give member states the opportunity to correct themselves before bringing the case to the EJC.
Proceedings against EU institutions may be brought by member states, other EU institutions and very rarely depending on the situation individual citizens and organizations. This procedure can be used to review the legality of EU regulations, directives or decisions on the grounds of procedures have not been followed, the provisions infringed a European treaty or any rule related to its ‘application or powers have been misused’. An example of these cases is United Kingdom v Council of the European Union (1996), here the UK wanted to have the directive on the forty eight hour working week annulled as it claimed hat the council unlawfully adopted it. The application was unsuccessful.
Article 234 of the treaty of Rome says hat any court or tribunal in a member state may refer a question on EU law to the EJC if it considers that ‘a decision on that question is necessary to enable it to give judgment’, with the intent that it is interpreted the same way throughout Europe. A reference must be made if the national court is one from which there is no further appeal, while the lower courts usually have some discretion about whether or not to do so. There is a greater willingness to refer to the Art. 234 procedure rather than Bulmer’s guidelines nowadays.
Treaties are the highest source of EU law; they lay down the aims of the EU and create some rights and obligations. There are four existing treaties, the three treaties of Rome that established the framework of Europe, the single European Act , the treaty on European union an the treaty of Amsterdam. Van Gend en Loos (1963) decided that a treaty provision has direct effect if it is unconditional, clear and precise to the rights or obligations it creates, and leaves member states no discretion on implying it. An example of a directly effective treaty provision is Art. 139 of the EU treaty. It states that ‘men and woman shall receive equal pay for equal work’. In McCarthy’s v Smith (1979) Art. 139 was held to give a woman in the UK rights to claim equal wages as paid to males doing the same job as her, even though she had no rights of this under the UK equal pay legislation passed in 1970, before the UK joined Europe.
Regulations are the nearest community law comes to an English act of parliament . They apply throughout the EU and become part of the law of each member nation without needing them to make their own legislation. Regulations must be applied even when the member states have passed legislation which conflicts it.
Directives are less precisely worded than regulations because they aim to set out broad objectives, leaving member states to create their own detailed legislation. Directives impose obligations, so therefore they have direct effect in proceedings against a member state.
