ABSTRACT
The original Treaties made no explicit reference to the protection of individual rights in their entirety, although Treaty articles such as Article 141 EC provide for equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment. The manner in which the ECJ has developed the jurisprudence on rights is linked inextricably with its insistence on the supremacy of Community law over the domestic law of Member States. In 1969, the ECJ turned its attention specifically to the status of fundamental individual rights in relation to the principles of Community law. In Stauder v City of Ulm (1969), the ECJ stated that it had a duty to protect the rights of individuals as provided for by the constitution of the Member State, and that such provisions formed part of the general principles of Community law. Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v EVST (1970) clarified the relationship between domestic constitutional law and Community law in the protection of rights. The ECJ expressed its opinion that respect for fundamental rights ‘forms an integral part of the general principles of law protected by the Court of Justice. The protection of such rights, whilst inspired by the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, must be ensured within the framework of the structures and objectives of the Community’.84 In Nold v Commission (1974), a case concerning a person’s status as a wholesaler, the ECJ ruled that, consistent with its earlier judgment in Internationale Handelsgesellschaft, constitutional rights protected under Member States’ constitutions must be respected, but also declared that ‘international treaties for the protection of human rights’ can ‘supply guidelines which should be followed within the framework of Community law’ (para 13). The German Constitutional Court has been reluctant to concede jurisdiction over fundamental rights to the ECJ.85
