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Publishers Abstract:
More than twenty years have passed since Von Colson, the judgment by the European Court of Justice formally introducing the instrument of the indirect effect of directives. The effect is also known as the obligation of consistent, harmonious, sympathetic or purposive interpretation, or simply as the interpretation obligation. This paper argues that the precise delineation between Article 249 and Article 10 EC is the prerequisite for discussing the legal basis of the interpretation obligation pre-term and post-term. Only on this basis can clear rules on the effect consistent interpretation takes on national methods of construction be proffered. Pre-term, based on Article 10 EC, the interpretation obligation must fully respect national rules of construction including any ranking of principles and methods. Post-term, based on Article 249 EC, national courts must give precedence to consistent interpretation over all other possible readings of national law. Article 249 EC vests the directive with the power of supremacy over national law as far as its objective is concerned.
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