ABSTRACT
The FACTORTAME JUDGMENT of 1990 (R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte Factortame Ltd) was an important verdict by the Court of Justice, confirming that national legislation in conflict with European Communities law must be suspended. More specifically, the Court ruled that a member state cannot be liable unless it can be established that the state has severely and deliberately disregarded EC law. In order to determine this the following criteria have to be considered: the clarity and precision of the directive; the level of discretion left to the member state to implement the directive; whether damages were intentional and whether the failure to implement EU law can be explained by other extenuating circumstances.
