Tough but fair: The first infringement ruling against an ex-Member State (Case C-516/22,European Commission v. United Kingdom )

Abstract

The judgment in Case C-516/22, European Commission v. United Kingdom constitutes an important precedent on several legal issues. A further development in the Micula saga, it finds that the UK Supreme Court violated its obligations deriving from Article 4(3) TEU and Articles 108(3), 267 and 351 TFEU, which still bound it as a result of the transitional period which followed the UK's formal withdrawal from the EU. This makes it the first finding of an infringement committed by a third country. Moreover, this is only the second time the Court has explicitly found an infringement to have been caused by a decision not to refer a preliminary question. Last, this judgment is a further development in the Achmea line of precedents, consolidating the Court's position on the conflict between EU law and intra-EU international arbitration.