Costa v ENEL
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''Flaminio Costa v ENEL'' (1964) Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the
primacy Primacy may refer to: * an office of the Primate (bishop) * the supremacy of one bishop or archbishop over others, most notably: ** Primacy of Peter, ecclesiological doctrine on the primacy of Peter the Apostle ** Primacy of the Roman Pontiff, e ...
of European Union law (then Community law) over the laws of its member states.Hilf, Meinhard (2012). Costa v. ENEL case, in Wolfrum, Rudiger (ed.): ''The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 824.


Facts

Mr. Costa was an Italian citizen who had owned shares in an electricity company, Edisonvolta, and opposed the nationalisation of the
electricity sector in Italy Italy's total electricity consumption was 302.75 terawatt-hour (TWh) in 2020, of which 270.55 TWh (89.3%) was produced domestically and the remaining 10.7% was imported. Italy has a high share of electricity in the total final energy consumption. ...
. He asked two lower courts in Milan (two different ''Giudici conciliatori'') to ascertain that the real creditor of his electricity bill (a relatively small amount of money, 1,925 lire) was the nationalised company, Edisonvolta, and not the newly established state company,
Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established as a public body at the ...
. He argued that the nationalisation of the electricity industry violated the Treaty of Rome and the
Italian Constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...
. The first ''Giudice conciliatore'' of Milan referred the case to the Italian Constitutional Court and the second ''Giudice conciliatore'' referred it to the European Court of Justice. The Italian Constitution Court gave judgement in March 1964, ruling that while the Italian Constitution allowed for the limitation of sovereignty under an international organisation like the European Economic Community, it did not upset that normal rule of
statutory interpretation Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and a straightforward meani ...
that, where two statutes conflict, the subsequent one prevails ('' lex posterior derogat legi anteriori/priori''). As a result, the Treaty of Rome which was incorporated into Italian law in 1958 could not prevail over the electricity nationalisation law which was enacted in 1962. In light of the decision of the constitutional court, the Italian government submitted to the ECJ that the Italian court's request for a
preliminary ruling A preliminary ruling is a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the interpretation of European Union law that is given in response to a request (preliminary reference) from a court or a tribunal of a member state. A preliminary rulin ...
from the ECJ was inadmissible on the grounds that, as the Italian court was not empowered to set aside the national law in question, a preliminary ruling would not serve any valid purpose.


Judgment

The ECJ held that the Treaty of Rome rule on an undistorted market was one on which the Commission alone could challenge the Italian government. As an individual, Costa had no standing to challenge the decision, because that Treaty provision had no direct effect. However, Costa could raise a point of EC law against a national government, in legal proceeding before the courts in that member state, since EC law would not be effective, if Costa could not challenge national law on the basis of its alleged incompatibility with EC law.


Significance

This groundbreaking case established the principle of supremacy in EU law, which is an independent source of law that cannot be overridden by domestic laws. Article I-6 of the proposed
European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...
stated: ''"The Constitution and law adopted by the institutions of the Union in exercising competences conferred on it shall have primacy over the law of the Member States"''. The constitution was never ratified, after being rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005. Its replacement, the
Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member s ...
, did not include the article on primacy but instead included a declaration recalling the case-law. French Judge Robert Lecourt, who was on the Court from 1962 to 1976, would later argue these decisions "added nothing" other than to "give effect" to the treaties, an effect he felt was "commanded" by their being.R. Lecourt, L’Europe des Juges (1976), at 237.


See also

*
Direct effect In European Union law, direct effect is the principle that Union law may, if appropriately framed, confer rights on individuals which the courts of member states of the European Union are bound to recognise and enforce. Direct effect is not e ...
* Factortame *''
Thoburn v Sunderland City Council ''Thoburn v Sunderland City Council'' (also known as the "Metric Martyrs case") is a UK constitutional and administrative law case, concerning the interaction of EU law and an Act of Parliament. It is important for its recognition of the supre ...
'' *''
Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen ''Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen'' (1963) Case 26/62 was a landmark case of the European Court of Justice which established that provisions of the ''Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community'' were cap ...
''


Notes

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External links


Judgment of the Court of 15 July 1964. Flaminio Costa v E.N.E.L. Reference for a preliminary ruling: Giudice conciliatore di Milano – Italy. Case 6–64Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 December 2002. French Republic v Commission of the European Communities. Action for annulment – State aid – Common organisation of the markets – Wine – Measures for adapting vineyards in Charentes. Case C-456/00
1964 in Italy European Union constitutional law Court of Justice of the European Union case law 1964 in case law Energy in Italy Italian case law