As we saw in the previous chapter, Article 249 [189] EC expressly says that regulations have direct effect. With regard to directives, on the other hand, the Article says:

This makes clear that directives were not intended to be directly effective. They are not binding in their entirety, as are regulations, but only as to the result to be achieved. Clearly, something has to be done to achieve that result. And that something has to be done by the national authorities. The latter are given the choice of form and methods.

The European Court makes its move

The European Court, however, had other ideas. The problem is that the national authorities do not always take the necessary action. The Commission could respond by bringing proceedings under Article 226 [169] EC (see Chapter 5 above). However, this would involve a lot of work for the Commission. It could also be several years before judgment was obtained. Then there would be the problem of enforcing the judgment. So the European Court thought that things would be simpler and more efficient if directives were directly effective. The case in which it first established this principle was Van Duyn v. Home Office.