Costa V ENEL - Judgment

Judgment

The Court ruled partly in favour of the government because the relevant 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, on the logically prior issue of Costa's ability to raise a point of EC law against a national government in legal proceeding before the courts in that Member State, the ECJ disagreed with the Italian government. It ruled that EC law would not be effective if Costa could not challenge national law on the basis of its alleged incompatibility with EC law:

It follows from all these observations that the law stemming from the treaty, an independent source of law, could not, because of its special and original nature, be overridden by domestic legal provisions, however framed, without being deprived of its character as community law and without the legal basis of the community itself being called into question.

This case is additionally confirmation that under Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, a court has an obligation to refer cases that have reached the highest point of appeal in their respective country, if there is a question of the application of EU Law. Costa had reached its highest point of appeal.