Costa v ENEL


Flaminio Costa v ENEL Case 6/64 was a landmark decision of the European Court of Justice which established the primacy of European Union law over the laws of its member states.

Facts

Mr. Costa was an Italian citizen who had owned shares in an electricity company, Edisonvolta, and opposed the nationalisation of the electricity sector in Italy. He asked to two lower courts in Milan to ascertain that the real creditor of his electricity bill was the nationalised company, Edisonvolta, and not the newly established state company, Enel. He argued that the nationalisation of the electricity industry violated the Treaty of Rome and the Italian Constitution. The first Giudice Conciliatore of Milan referred the case to the Italian Constitutional Court and the second Giudice Conciliatore referred it to the European Court of Justice.
The Italian Constitution Court gave judgement in March 1964, ruling that while the Italian Constitution allowed for the limitation of sovereignty for international organisation like the European Economic Community, it did not upset that normal rule of statutory interpretation that where two statutes conflict the subsequent one prevails. As a result the Treaty of Rome which was incorporated into Italian law in 1958 could not prevail over the electricity nationalisation law which was enacted in 1962.
In light of the decision of the constitutional court, the Italian government submitted to the ECJ that the Italian court's request for a preliminary ruling from the ECJ was inadmissible on the grounds that as the Italian court was not empowered to set aside the national law in question, a preliminary ruling would not serve any valid purpose.

Judgment

The ECJ held the 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, Costa could raise a point of EC law against a national government in legal proceeding before the courts in that member state since EC law would not be effective if Costa could not challenge national law on the basis of its alleged incompatibility with EC law.

Significance

This groundbreaking case established the principle of supremacy in EU law, which is an independent source of law that cannot be overridden by domestic laws.