Effective Sanctions in EC Law: A Moving Boundary in the Division of Competence

• Date: 01 July 1995
• Published date: 01 July 1995
• Author: Angela Ward
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0386.1995.tb00014.x

European Law Journal,

Vol.

I.

No.

2,

July

1995,

pp.

205-217

0

Blackwell

Publishers

Ltd.

1995,

108

Cowley

Road,

Oxford

OX4

IJF.

UK

and

238

Main

Street. Cambridge,

MA

02142.

USA

Effective Sanctions in EC

Law:

A

Moving Boundary

in

the

Division of Competence

Angela

Ward

*t

Abstract: This article details and analyses the development of European Court of Justice

guidelines regarding sanctions provided by Member States to correct infractions

of

EC

law. It will be shown that the contemporary policy of the Court sign8cantly retreats from

an early practice of non-interference with the discretion of national judges to attach

domestic remedies for breach of substantive Community measures. Preliminary comments

will be made

on

the possible impact of these developments

on

the constitutional structure

of

the Community, and in particular their potential effect

on

the continuing debate

concerning the legitimacy of EC rules.

I

Introduction

If a short description were required of current trends in European Community law-

making, an appropriate response would highlight the growing move toward the

devolution of authority to the Member States. At the political level, general

manifestations of this pattern are evident in the Maastricht articulation of the

sub-

sidiarity principle, and in companion opinions of EC political institutions

interpreting the concept'. Further, the same tendency is appearing more commonly

in discrete areas

of

Community regulation, as exemplified by calls from the

Commission for a broader involvement

of

national courts in the enforcement of EC

competition rules2

.

Research Assistant, European University Institute, Florence.

Thanks are due to Wolf Sauter and Professor Francis Snyder for invaluable comments on earlier drafts of

this paper. Responsibility for the text remains with the author.

See eg Edinburgh European Council

EC

Bull

12, p 12

et seq; The Principle

of

Subsidiarity,

Communication

of

the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament,

SEC

(92). 27 October

1992; Inter institutional Declaration on Democracy, Transparency and Subsidiarity

Europe Documents

No 1857

4

November 1993.

See

Noiice

on

Co-operaiion between National Courts and the Commission in Applying Articles

85

and

86

EEC

(OJ 1993 C39/6).

‡

‡