5.

Finally, the President of the Tribunale di Torino would like to know whether the rights which an individual acquires under the duty laid down in Community regulations have existed continuously between the date on which the obligation took effect and the different date on which a national law expressly repealed a previous law which conflicted with Community regulations. Difficulties for the national court arise from the fact that an Italian Law No 447 of 24 June 1971, which abolished the charges in question, was not sufficiently retroactive and, for that reason, does not appear to that court to be compatible with Community regulations. The court was therefore faced with a conflict situations. This is why it would like to know how to enforce the right of an individual to obtain repayment of a charge which has been unlawfully levied although there is no or only partial provision for such repayment under the relevant national law. In the Commission's view, the national court must resolve the dilemma by endeavouring to find an interpretation which, so far as possible, enables national and Community requirements to be reconciled. The national court should first try to avoid any conflict by adhering to the principle that in case of doubt the national legislature is presumed to have intended to abide by its international commitments. If such an attempt proves unsuccessful and if the law of later date is manifestely and expressly incompatible with Community law, the Court must not apply the national law to the case before it but must give a ruling contra legem or ultra legem of the national legal system. However, I do not consider that this Court, in its judgment, should suggest to the court making the reference the method of interpretation proposed by the Commission which is, incidentally, applied by all courts in the Member States. This is not in fact the first time that such a question has been referred to this Court. In Case 34/67 (Firma Gebrüder Lück v Hauptzollamt Köln-Rheinau [1968] ECR 245) a national court asked this Court in what way recognition of the precedence of a directly applicable provision of Community law affects national law which conflicts with it. The question was raised whether that law must simply be regarded as null or as inapplicable, in whole or in part, to the actual case. In its judgment of 4 April 1968, the Court held that Community provisions which are directly applicable do not restrict the jurisdiction of the competent national courts to choose, from among the various procedures available under national law, those which seem appropriate for the protection of the individual rights conferred by Community law. In the judgment delivered by the Court on 19 December 1968 in Case 13/68 SpA Salgoil v Italian Ministry for Foreign Trade ([1968] ECR 453) it held that national courts must protect the rights conferred on individuals by Community provisions which are directly applicable. My colleague, Mr Advocate-General Gand, stated moreover that this duty precludes any discretion on the part of the State to oppose the exercise of these rights. Finally, in its judgment of 15 December 1971 in Joined Cases 51 to 54/71 International Fruit Company NV and Others v Produktschap voor groenten en fruit, the Court in effect ruled that the question how Member States can fulfil their obligations to implement Community law depends exclusively on the constitutional system of each particular State. I am therefore of the opinion that, in the context of the present case, the Court could merely rule that the national court must not apply national law which conflicts with the Treaty, but because their law yields precedence (Judgment of 15 July 1964 in Case 6/64, Flaminio Costa v ENEL ([1964] ECR 585); Judgment of 13 February 1969 in Case 14/68 Walt Wilhelm and others v Bundeskartellamt [1969] 1) must apply Community Law. It is, accordingly, to the principles of its own legal system that the national court must look for a method to give full effect to Community rules. Its duty is concerned with ends and not with means.