LAW PROBLEMS

br Question 1

Section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 makes provision for supremacy of European Community law over the United Kingdom as a Member State . Section 2 provides that `all such rights powers liabilities obligations and restrictions . created by or arising under the Treaties . shall be recognised and available in law , and shall be enforced allowed and followed accordingly ' European Communities Act 1972 Section 2 . Therefore Article 141 (formerly Article 119 ) of the EC Treaty has direct effect in Miss Conway 's case

In Costa v ENEL , the European Court

of Justice clearly maintained that Member States had effectively `limited their sovereignty ' by indorsing the EC Treaty .Costa v ENEL [1964] ECR 585 Moreover in Amministazjone delle Financze v Simmenthal the European Court of Justice also ruled that the national courts had a duty to ensure that the EC laws were applied uniformly and to accomplish this task , it would in some cases require having to disregard conflicting national law whether those law were current or future .Amministazione delle Financze v Simmenthal [1978] ECR 629

In the context of Article 141 of the EC Treaty and the supremacy of European Community Law as contained in Section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 , Miss Conway has a right to have her case determined by direct application of Article 141 . Article 141 provides for equal pay in respect of both male and female employees on the following basis :` (a ) that pay for the same work at piece rates shall be calculated on the basis of the same unit of measurement (b ) that pay for work at time rates shall be the same for the same job ' EC Treaty Article 141 (1 ) and (2

Lord Schiemann made it clear in Preston v Wolverhampton NHS Trust that Tribunals have jurisdiction over claims which are subject to the direct effect of EC law . He said that `Article 119 of the EC Treaty has horizontal direct effect that is it may be relied upon by claimants in domestic courts and tribunals . Preston v Wolverhampton NHS Trust [1997] ICR 899 at

908 Based on this ruling Miss Conway may pursue her claim before the Employment tribunal in the United Kingdom and can also rely on the provisions entrenched in Article 141 of the EC Treaty

When directives are issued the European Union directs that the Member States implement the directive within a prescribed period . Article 249 (formerly Article 189 ) of the Treaty of Rome 1957 provides for directives to be binding on `each state to which it is addressed Treaty of Rome 1957 Article 249 In Becker v Finanzamt Muenster-Innenstadt the court maintained that 'particularly in cases in which the Community authorities have , by means of a directive , placed Member States under-a duty to adopt a certain course of action , the effectiveness of such a measure would be diminished if persons were prevented from relying upon it in proceedings before a court and national courts were prevented from taking it into consideration as...