The Gazette 1974

s, ngle judgment provisions in Irish constitutional cases affecting Statutes after 1938 and in the Irish Court of n minal Appeal will receive a fresh appraisal, if the °Pportunitv arises to enact a new Constitution. Kapteyn (P. J. G.) and P. Verloren Van Themaat— Production to the Law of the European Communities te r the Accession of the new Member State . Royal £io'o(T p ' x x ' 4 3 3 ' L o n d o n ' S w e e t & M a x w e l l > 1 9 7 3 ; • • petitioners will doubtless be aghast that yet another ume o n Common Market Law has been written by Dutch Professors of Utrecht University. Professor ^ t c h e ll in his Foreword has emphasised the utility this "Introduction" insofar as it relates the legal, Political and economic aspects of the Community. All ^ e yelopments relating to the accession of Ireland, .^ ri tain and Denmark up to 1 April 1972 are included what the authors call "a concise introduction". The offi ° rS a d m ' ' toat the volume is primarily written for Pcials rather than for lawyers. But they have mainly sed their argument directly on primary Community aw > the innumerable cimplementing rules, the ad- 'nistrative practice of the Community, and the bulky JPisprudence of the Court of Justice, th starts with the Schuman plan leading to n e European Coal and Steel Treaty of 1951, and .tontually to the Treaty of Rome of 1958. In consider- .1 ^ general aspects of the Communities it is emphasised at > while objectives and principles are formulated in e Treaties, it is left to the institutions to work out e s e principles and objectives in concrete measures; e se are essentially rules of conduct for the national S Ve mments in the form of injunctions or prohibitions p VP the general objectives are largely identical. This is reinforced by the Merger Treaty of April 1965, which stituted a single Council of Ministers and a single °Pmission, and by the fact that the Treaties are eated as Primary Law, while the rules of the Com- munity institutions form the basis of Secondary Law. ut Institutional Law is said to relate to the applica- °n and revision of the Treaties as well as the legal P e rsonality, regime and immunities of the Communities. Community Law, involving the maintenance of a ummon market, is a common Internal Law in the ember States, which is provided for by extensive r Sanisational and procedural provisions, rather than a .?ue dieta of International Law. The sources of Com- unity Law seem to be the importance of the acts of the s toutions, as well as general legal principles. German n u Italian Constitutional law is rightly praised as it Pplies automatically the written rules of international , % to national law. The European Court has wisely ^ eided in many cases that some provisions of the toaties are self-executing, and are consequently binding , n the municipal law of the Member States. No mere , toestic law, however far-fetched, can be adduced tore a municipal Court as against Community Law. ub ject to the internal Constitution of the State, the P r

municipal Court should give to the rules of Community Law the effect desired by the European Court. There is then a learned but diffuse chapter on the Socio-Economic principles of the Community, which considers in detail the basic objectives of Article 2, and the basic principles of Articles 5, 6 and 7. The relation- ship between the Council of Ministers and the Com- mission is fully set out in the chapter on "Institutional Structure". While the Commission serves the general interests of the Community, there is close collaboration with the Council. The restricted powers of the Euro- pean Parliament are rightly criticised. The manner in which the European Court may act either as an administrative Court, an international Court, or a Con- stitutional Court, is fully debated. In the chapter on Policy-Making and Administration, it is emphasised that the principal legal instruments for the application of Community Law are the official acts of the Council and of the Commission, as well as inter- national Treaties and agreements, and regulations, directives and decisions. The budgetary procedure, as well as the decision-making procedure in the Council is then fully explored. The chapter on the Administration of Justice will be of special interest, as it considers the various functions of the European Court, such as (1) actions for Treaty infringements, (2) annulment of regulations and direc- tives; and (3) inaction in specified cases by the Council or the Commission. However the role of the national Court is still paramount as, in the first instance, an individual, who wishes to contest the legal validity of acts of national bodies as being contrary to Community Law must apply first to the National Court, which can if necessary ask the European Court for a preliminary ruling. Undoubtedly the théorie de I'acte clair lays down that the obligation to refer does not apply, if the Supreme Court holds that there cannot be any doubt about the answers to the questions raised. The Four Freedoms—relating to Goods, Persons, Services and Capital—are then fully described. The Competition Policy is then considered; this includes the problem of harmonisation of laws, as well as the distortion of the conditions of competition under Articles 101-102 and 92-94, and also the rules of competition for undertakings under Articles 85, 86 and 90. This is followed by a chapter on Economic and Social Policies, as well as Sectorial Policy, which includes Agriculture, Transport, European Coal and Steel, and Atomic Energy. The problem of external relations is explored under the heading of common commercial policy. Finally the details of the Treaty of Accession are fully explained, as well as the changes due to the non-accession of Norway. It will be seen that the learned authors have covered very much ground in their "Introduction". From the innumerable footnote references, it is obvious that they are masters of their subject. It follows that the practi- tioner, who takes the trouble to study it in depth, will derive much benefit from it. The publishers are to be congratulated upon their usual high standard of general presentation and fine printing.

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