|
Publishers Abstract:
Joined Cases C-387102, C-391/02 and C-403102, Berlusconi and others, are discussed. The cases analysed here concern the compatibility with EC law of an Italian statute introducing new sanctions for the submission of false accounts of companies. The questions referred to the Court raised several interesting issues: the interpretation of the scope of a series of EC company law directives, the relationship between criminal law and Community law, the eternal question of the exact contours of direct effect of directives, and the extent of the principle of loyal cooperation. The answers provided by the Court are, in the authors' view, ultimately disappointing and slightly incoherent. It is suggested that the Court could have reached a different result by simply considering that after the correct transposition into domestic law, Community directives and the national rules implementing it form a complete legal order in compliance with the requirements Article 249 EC, and therefore is 'protected' by the principle of primacy.
|
