The Costanzo Obligation

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Maartje Verhoeven

The Costanzo Obligation

The obligations of national administrative authorities in the case of

incompatibility between national law and European law

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Ius Commune Europaeum

CRC prepared by C.J.Wiarda Institute for Legal Research, Utrecht University, Janskerkhof 3, 3512 BK Utrecht, the Netherlands

Cover photograph © iStockphoto.com

ISBN 978-94-000-0194-7 D/2011/7849/40

NUR 823

Cambridge - Antwerp - Portland www.intersentia.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photo print, microfilm or any other means, without written permission from the publisher.

This book is the published version of the Ph.D thesis defended on May 20, 2011.

Maartje Verhoeven

The Costanzo Obligation

The obligations of national administrative authorities in the case of incompatibility between national law and European law

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v Acknowledgements

There are many people without whom I could not have written this thesis. It is impossible to mention everyone, but I would like to name a few. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Rob Widdershoven and Professor Sacha Prechal. My

‘doctoral parents’ made a good couple to supervise this thesis. Sacha stimulated me to get to the bottom of complicated concepts, and encouraged me to attend conferences in the Netherlands and abroad to present different stadia of my research. Rob was always available to discuss each and every obstacle I came across and provided me with other tasks which diverted me from the research when I needed it. They both encouraged me by showing their confidence in my work and provided me with different views in the countless discussions we had, often followed by an enjoyable dinner. Furthermore, I would like to thank the members of the reading committee: Professor Von Danwitz, Professor Dubos, Professor Hessel, Professor Jans, and particularly Professor Besselink for his valuable comments.

There are many other people to whom I owe thanks. My colleagues made the Institute for Administrative and Constitutional Law and the Chair of European Law great places to work. People such as Anna, Barbara, Brecht, Imelda, Loes, Maaike, Paulien, Remco, Sybe and Ton made working on the PhD very pleasant. In that regard a special word of thanks to Hanneke and Rolf, not only for their uninvited offer to read important parts of the manuscript but also for their friendship. Ernst, many thanks for helping me by accurately improving the sloppy references in this thesis – all mistakes are of course my own. Klaartje, thank you very much for preparing the manuscript so accurately in a very short period of time.

Outside the context of work, I am very grateful that my family and friends have supported me in many ways. That applies particularly to my parents. The illness and death of my mother has unambiguously showed me what is really important in life, and that writing a thesis in the end is of limited significance. I regret that my mother did not live to see the completion of my PhD research. I am very happy that my father is here to witness the event.

Finally, the last words are for Stef – for simply everything.

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tAble of contents

Acknowledgements v

Abbreviations xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Research question 2

1.3 Theoretical backgrounds 4

1.3.1 Multilevel constitutionalism and the Composite Constitution 4

1.3.2 Dédoublement fonctionnel 5

1.4 Research methods 6

1.5 Key concepts 8

1.5.1 European law 8

1.5.2 Administrative authorities 8

1.5.3 Statutory law and secondary legislation 9

1.5.4 The Costanzo obligation 10

1.6 Plan 11

Chapter 2 European law in the national legal order 13

2.1 Introduction 13

2.2. The principles governing the effect of European law in the national legal order 14

2.2.1 Primacy 14

2.2.2 Direct effect 18

2.2.3 Consistent interpretation 31

2.2.4 Relation of primacy, direct effect and consistent interpretation 34 2.3 The relationship between the European Union and its Member States 40

2.3.1 The principle of sincere co-operation 40

2.3.2 National institutional and procedural autonomy: principles allowing large

discretion for the Member States .. 43

2.3.3 ... but some specific remedies have to be available 52

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viii

Table of Contents Table of Contents

2.4 European law in the national legal orders of Germany, France and

The Netherlands 58

2.4.1 Introduction 58

2.4.2 The European Union in the constitution 59

2.4.3 The primacy of European law over domestic statutory law 60 2.4.4 The primacy of European law over constitutional law 65

2.4.5 Direct effect of European law 71

2.4.6 Consistent interpretation 74

2.5 Findings and summary 74

2.5.1 Principles 74

2.5.2 Effects of European law in the national legal orders 76 Chapter 3 The development of the Costanzo obligation in the case law of

the Court of Justice 79

3.1 Introduction 79

3.2 Direct and indirect collisions 80

3.3 Direct collisions: the obligation to apply European law and set aside national

law in cases of conflict 83

3.3.2 The first indications for the existence of the ‘Costanzo obligation’ in

infringement procedures 83

3.3.3 The birth of the Costanzo obligation 86

3.4 Indirect collisions: the principle of national procedural autonomy and the

accompanying principles of equivalence and effectiveness 96

3.4.1 Wells 97

3.4.2 Kühne & Heitz 98

3.4.3 i-21 and Arcor 102

3.5 The exceptional case of Gervais Larsy 103

3.6 European limits to the powers of administrative authorities 107

3.6.1 Absence of the preliminary procedure 108

3.6.2 Absence of the power to examine the validity of secondary EU law 111

3.7 Drawing the lines together 114

3.7.1 The ‘grey zone’ between direct and indirect collisions 114 3.7.2 Direct collisions: direct effect and primacy 116 3.7.3 The Costanzo obligation and different instruments of European law 119 3.7.4 Indirect collisions: national procedural autonomy 120 3.7.5 Gervais Larsy: the exception that proves the rule? 120

3.7.6 Drawing the threads together 121

Chapter 4 The principle of legality of the administration 123

4.1 Introduction 123

4.2 Background and historical development of the legality principle 124

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Table of Contents

4.3 The principle of legality in Germany, the Netherlands and France 126

4.4 Hierarchy of norms 130

4.5. The precedence of statutory law 136

4.5.1 Germany 136

4.5.2 France 139

4.5.3 The Netherlands 141

4.6 The requirement of a statutory basis 141

4.6.1 Germany 141

4.6.3 France 152

4.7 Legality on the European level 155

4.7.1 The principle of conferral 155

4.7.2 The requirement of a legal basis 156

4.7.3 Implied powers and Article 352 TFEU 158

4.7.4 Hierarchy of norms 159

4.7.5 Legality on the European level and legality in the Member States:

parallels and differences 161

4.8 Interim conclusion 163

Chapter 5 The Costanzo obligation and precedence of statutory law 165

5.2 Germany 166

5.2.1 The power of administrative authorities to set aside secondary

legislation that is incompatible with higher sources of law 166 5.2.2 The power of administrative authorities to set aside statutory law that is

incompatible with the German Constitution 167

5.2.3 The power of administrative authorities to set aside statutory law that is

incompatible with European law 174

5.2.4 Interim conclusion 185

5.3 France 187

incompatible with the French Constitution 190

5.4 The Netherlands 201

incompatible with the Dutch Constitution 202

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x

5.5 Intermezzo: Views on the Costanzo obligation from other Member States 208

5.6 Drawing the lines together 211

5.6.1 Secondary legislation that is incompatible with higher-ranking law 211 5.6.2 National statutory law that is incompatible with the domestic

Constitution 211

5.6.3 National statutory law that is incompatible with EU law 212 5.6.4 Tensions between the Costanzo obligation and fundamental principles 214

5.6.5 Balance 215

Chapter 6 The Costanzo obligation and the requirement of a statutory basis 217

6.2 The French distinction between compétence and la base juridique 219 6.3 Competence and the principle of national institutional autonomy 222 6.4 The different instruments of European law as legal basis 228

6.4.1 The Treaties 229

6.4.2 Regulations 233

6.4.3 Directives 238

6.4.4 Decisions 240

6.5 Interim conclusion 245

Chapter 7 Supervision of administrative authorities in the application of the Costanzo obligation

7.2 German Federalism 251

7.2.2 Distribution of competences between Bund and Länder 252

7.2.3 Supervision 257

7.3 Decentralised administrative authorities 261

7.3.2 France 262

7.3.4 Germany 270

7.4 Independent administrative authorities 272

7.4.2 Supervision in general 275

7.4.3 The national competition authorities and telecommunications

authorities as examples 275

7.5 Interim conclusion 280

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Table of Contents

Chapter 8 Synthesis and conclusions 285

8.1 General 285

8.2 The emergence of the Costanzo obligation 286

8.3 The obligations of national administrative authorities in case of direct collisions 286 8.4 The contents and scope of the principle of legality of the administration 288 8.5 The Costanzo obligation and the precedence of the law 289

8.5.1 General 289

8.5.2 Tension with the separation of powers 292

8.5.3 Tension with the principle of legal certainty and the requirement of

uniform application of EU law 294

8.6 The Costanzo obligation and the requirement of a statutory basis:

competence and legal basis 296

8.6.1 Competence 297

8.6.2 Legal basis 298

8.7 Supervision of national administrative authorities 299

8.8 Balance 302

8.8.1 Constitutional obstacles 302

8.8.2 Mitigation of the Costanzo obligation 303

Nederlandse samenvatting 311

1.1 Inleiding 311

1.2 Het ontstaan van de Costanzo -verplichting 312

1.3 De verplichtingen van nationale bestuursorganen bij directe botsingen 312 1.4 De inhoud en werkingssfeer van het legaliteitsbeginsel 314 1.5 De Costanzo-verplichting en het primaat van de wet 315

1.5.1 Algemeen 315

1.5.2 Spanningen met het beginsel van machtenscheiding 317 1.5.3 Spanningen met het beginsel van rechtszekerheid en het vereiste van

uniforme toepassing van EU-recht 317

1.6 De Costanzo-verplichting en het vereiste van een wettelijke

bevoegdheidsgrondslag 318

1.6.1 Competentie 319

1.6.2 Rechtsbasis 320

1.7 Toezicht op nationale bestuursorganen 321

1.8 Balans 322

1.8.1 Constitutionele obstakels 322

1.8.2 Nuancering van de Costanzo-verplichting 323

Bibliography 327

Table of cases 353

Curriculum vitae 367

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xiii AbbreviAtions

AB Administratiefrechtelijke beslissingen ABRvS Afdeling Bestuursrechtspraak Raad van State

AG Advocate General

AJDA Actualité Juridique – droit administratif Awb Algemene wet bestuursrecht

BNB Beslissingen in belastingzaken / Nederlandse Belastingrechtspraak BVerfG Bundesverfassungsgericht

BVerfGE Entscheidungen des Bundersverfassungsgericht BVerfGG Gesetz über das Bundesverfassungsgericht BVerwG Bundesverwaltungsgericht

BVerwGE Enscheidungen des Bundesverwaltungsgericht CC Conseil Constitutionnel

CE Conseil d’État

CMLR Common Market Law Reporter CMLRev Common Market Law Review

DC Décision portant declaration de conformité à la Constitution DVBl Deutsches Verwaltungsblatt

EC (former) Treaty on the European Community

EEC (former) Treaty on the European Economic Community ECHR European Convention on Human Rights

ECJ European Court of Justice

ECR European Court Reports

ELRev European Law Review

EU European Union

EuZW Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht

GG Grundgesetz

Gw Grondwet

HR Hoge Raad

JuS Juristische Schulung

JZ Juristenzeitung

L Décision rendue sur examen de textes de forme legislative

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Abbreviations

LJN Landelijk Jurisprudentie Nummer M en R Milieu en Recht

NJ Nederlandse Jurisprudentie NJB Nederlands Juristenblad

NTB Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Bestuursrecht NTER Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Europees Recht NVwZ Neue Zeitschrift für Verwaltungsrecht RDP Revue du Droit Public

Realaw Review of European Administrative Law Rec. Receuil des decisions du Conseil d’État Rfda Revue Française de Droit administratif RFDC Revue Française de Droit consitutionnel RTDE Revue Trimestrielle de droit Européen SEW Sociaal-Economische Wetgeving TEU Treaty on the European Union

TFEU Treaty on the functioning of the European Union VwGO Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung

VwVfG Verwaltungsverfahrengesetz