Member state liability for breach of EU law

1 Resumé Member state liability for breach of EU law Under The Treaty on the functioning of The European union (TFEU), Member States have the primary responsibility for the application of EU law. The Commission has the authority and responsibility to ensure respect for EU law. At the end of 2008, the rules of the Treaty were supplemented by some 8200 regulations and just under 1 900 directives in force throughout the 27 Member States. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has developed a general principle of state responsibility for non-compliance with EU law. State liability derives from the fact that EU Member States are responsible for the implementation and enforcement of EU law. Enforcement of state liability for violations of rights granted to individuals by EU law is carried out through the national courts of the Member States. Many EU rights, particularly those in the many directives are enforced through the doctrine of direct effect of directives: the state is liable, even where responsibility for the non- implementation of the EU directive lies with other organs of the State. The impact of directives remains limited, however, by the insistence of the ECJ on the exclusively vertical responsibility of the state (vertical direct effect) which prevents enforcement of directives against private..