“EU Treaty provisions can create directly enforceable individual rights in national courts”
Van Gend en Loos, a Dutch transport company, challenged customs duties imposed by Netherlands on chemicals imported from Germany. They argued the duties violated Article 12 EEC Treaty (now Article 30 TFEU) which prohibited increasing customs duties between member states.
Whether Article 12 EEC Treaty creates direct rights for individuals that can be enforced in national courts, or whether it only creates obligations between member states.
The ECJ held that Article 12 of the EEC Treaty created direct individual rights enforceable in national courts. The provision was sufficiently clear, unconditional and required no further implementation measures.
The Court established that the EEC Treaty created a new legal order where member states limited their sovereign rights and individuals became subjects of EU law. Treaty provisions can have direct effect if they are clear, unconditional, and require no further implementation. National courts must protect these EU-derived individual rights.
This foundational case established direct effect, fundamentally transforming EU law from international law into a federal-type system. It remains central to understanding the relationship between EU and UK law, even post-Brexit.
The ratio is that EU Treaty provisions can create direct individual rights enforceable in national courts if they are sufficiently clear, unconditional, and require no further implementation measures.
The ECJ decided that Article 12 EEC Treaty created direct individual rights that Van Gend en Loos could enforce in Dutch courts against the customs duties.
It established the fundamental doctrine of direct effect, transforming EU law from international law into a federal-type system where individuals can directly enforce EU rights in national courts.
The Court famously described the EEC Treaty as creating 'a new legal order of international law' for whose benefit states have limited their sovereign rights.
OSCOLA Citation
Van Gend en Loos v Netherlands Inland Revenue Administration (Case 26/62) [1963] ECR 1
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