The scope of responsibilities of national public administration bodies in the European Union

elective courses

Constitutional Law 2200-1P009
Fundamentals of European Union law 2200-1P008
Public Administration and Public Management 2200-1B105

National administrative authorities are obliged to leave provisions of national law unapplied when these are incompatible with EU law. Irrespective of their position and powers under national law, national administrative authorities are supposed to comply with this so-called ‘Costanzo obligation’ as established by the Court of Justice.

The lecture concerns EU law and its application in domestic law. The lecture will be about those principles of European Union law that affect the status of EU law in the national order of the Member States and which shape the so-called "EU scope of obligations" of courts and public administration bodies. The topic is valid practically and multifaceted.

These principles will be illustrated by selected areas of EU law. Specific cases of correct (and also incorrect) application of EU law by national (mostly Polish) public administration authorities will be presented. These will be, in particular, topics such as: movement of people, EU citizenship and fundamental rights, as well as references to the law of consumers, capital markets, electronic communications, energy, and others.

Situations will be indicated in which EU law can or should be referred to, ie sources of law that are directly applicable and which may have direct effects (against the background of new and recent case law of the CJEU and administrative courts). The lecture is based on the latest literature on the subject and takes into account the current legal and factual status as well as the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Remote learning

The subject of the course is the scope of duties of public administration bodies, the ‘Costanzo obligation’, the nature of the sources of EU law and how it matters to the national administration, ways of applying EU law, distinguishing EU and purely internal affairs, consequences of breaking EU law by the national administration.

Part I: Introduction - "EU mandate" of public administration bodies

➢ The concept of European Union law

- sources of European Union law and their functioning in the internal legal orders of the Member States of the European Union

• Primary and secondary law

• International agreements

• Legislative acts / non-legislative acts - characteristics of the category of sources of law and their hierarchy.

• Regulations, directives, decisions and other sources - in the light of the treaty and judicial decisions

Part II: EU affairs and home affairs - different standards

o The scope of application of EU law

o An "internal" or EU "pure" matter:

o Consequences of non-application of EU law by the court / administrative body

o The principle of State liability for damages against an individual for breaking EU law

➢ Case study (selected examples), including:

o no notification of technical regulations

o Ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages via the Internet - judgments of administrative courts in Poland

➢ The notion of state - all state organs (judgment of 29 April 1999 in Case C-224/97 Ciola, paragraph 30, judgment of 22 June 1989 in case 103/88 Fratelli Costanzo); question referred for a preliminary ruling of 25/07/2015 - the Irish Supreme Court, in connection with the understanding of the "state emanation" (comp. C-413/15, Farrell)

Part III: Application of European Union law in the internal legal order

➢ The principle of the primacy of European Union law in the light of the CJEU jurisprudence and the jurisprudence of Polish courts

➢ Principle of direct effect in the light of the CJEU jurisprudence and the jurisprudence of Polish courts

➢ Pro-EU interpretation of national law in the light of the CJEU case law and the jurisprudence of Polish courts

➢ The obligation to refer the question for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU (Article 267 TFEU) and the State's liability for national judicial authorities - the practice of Polish courts

➢ The principle of procedural autonomy and its limitations

o National procedural and substantive rules subject to the principle of procedural autonomy

o Restrictions on procedural autonomy

➢ The principle of cooperation loyalty (Article 4 (3) TEU).

➢ The principle of effectiveness of EU law and equivalence / equivalence

➢ Polish practice of applying European Union law

o Supreme Administrative Court and provincial administrative courts - selected examples

Part IV: EU obligations of the court and administrative authority

➢ Applying a provision of EU law as a basis for a court decision in a specific case - after considering by the court:

about factual and legal circumstances regarding the legal character of the case (EU or national)

for establishing a provision of EU law that is significant for resolution (direct effect principle)

for defining the nature of the relationship between a provision of EU law and the Polish law (compliance or non-compliance) and their consequences (substitution or exclusion) with the need to remove non-compliance by interpretation in accordance with EU law

to consider - if in doubt about the interpretation or validity of EU law - to ask the CJEU (Article 267).

Literature of the subject - obligatory:

1. The Costanzo Obligation – The obligations of national administrative authorities in the case of incompatibility between national law and European law, by Maartje Verhoeven. (Antwerp: Intersentia Publishing, 2011) - dostęp online

2. R. Grzeszczak, A. Szczerba-Zawada (red.), Prawo administracyjne Unii Europejskiej, Warszawa 2016, ss. 487. - wskazane rozdziały

3. R. Grzeszczak, Władza wykonawcza w systemie Unii Europejskiej, warszawa 2011 - wybrane fragmenty (jako skany)

Students have broadened knowledge about:

- the rules for the application of EU law in the Member States

- the nature and significance of sources of EU derivative law

- the role of public administration bodies

- The consequences of breaking Union law

The student is able to conduct a test and qualify matters as EU and as internal national.

Presence control, continuous assessment based on assessment of preparation for classes and activity during classes, preparation of one written work (at home) on a given topic.

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