ABSTRACT
J Understand the nature and purpose of enforcement actions J Understand the procedure for indirect actions against Member States for breaches
of EU obligations
J Understand which breaches give rise to an action and the defences that can be raised by a Member State
J Understand the processes for direct actions against EU institutions for exceeding their powers, for a failure to act and actions for damages
J Understand the significance of locus standi J Understand the grounds for review of acts of EU institutions J Understand the rules relating to claims for damages J Evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement procedures
6.1 The nature and purpose of enforcement ‘Enforcement’ in simple terms refers to the actions created in the EC Treaty (now TFEU) for the purpose of ensuring that both the Member States and the institutions of the EU comply with their relative obligations within the Treaties. The Treaties and their secondary legislation clearly create many and various substantive rights and obligations by which all parties to the Treaties are bound. These substantive rights and obligations granted under Treaties would, nevertheless, be left completely ineffective if they were left merely to the co-operation of Member States without the means of enforcing them. Similarly, it would also be possible that the individual rights might be abused by the institutions of the EU themselves. For these reasons the framers of the EC Treaty were wise enough to include a variety of enforcement proceedings, and the methods for reviewing the actions of both the institutions and the Member States. These were then placed under the scrutiny of the ECJ, with individuals able to gain remedies following actions in their favour.
