Elaine Farrell v Alan Whitty and Others.
Date: 2017-10-10
17


In response to that reference, the Court held that, first, Article 1 of the Third Directive was to be interpreted as precluding national legislation whereby compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance does not cover liability in respect of personal injuries to persons travelling in a part of a motor vehicle which has not been designed and constructed with seating accommodation for passengers and, second, that article satisfied all the conditions necessary for it to produce direct effect and accordingly conferred rights upon which individuals might rely directly before the national courts. The Court held, however, that it was for the national court to determine whether that provision might be relied upon against a body such as the MIBI (judgment of 19 April 2007, Farrell, C‑356/05, EU:C:2007:229, paragraphs 36 and 44).
28


Accordingly, as stated, in essence, by the Advocate General in points 53 and 77 of her Opinion, the conditions that the organisation concerned must, respectively, be subject to the authority or control of the State, and must possess special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable to relations between individuals cannot be conjunctive (see, to that effect, judgments of 4 December 1997, Kampelmann and Others, C‑253/96 to C‑258/96, EU:C:1997:585, paragraphs 46 and 47, and of 7 September 2006, Vassallo, C‑180/04, EU:C:2006:518, paragraph 26).
31


In that regard, it must be recalled that, in accordance with the Court’s settled case-law, a directive cannot of itself impose obligations on an individual and cannot therefore be relied upon as such against an individual (judgments of 26 February 1986, Marshall, 152/84, EU:C:1986:84, paragraph 48; of 14 July 1994, Faccini Dori, C‑91/92, EU:C:1994:292, paragraph 20 ; of 5 October 2004, Pfeiffer and Others, C‑397/01 to C‑403/01, EU:C:2004:584, paragraph 108, and of 19 April 2016, DI, C‑441/14, EU:C:2016:278, paragraph 30). The effect of extending the possibility of relying on directives that are not transposed to the sphere of relations between individuals would be to recognize a power invested in the European Union to enact obligations for individuals with immediate effect, whereas it has competence to do so only where it is empowered to adopt regulations (judgment of 14 July 1994, Faccini Dori, C‑91/92, EU:C:1994:292, paragraph 24).
32


Nonetheless, again in accordance with the Court’s settled case-law, where a person is able to rely on a directive not against an individual but against the State, he may do so regardless of the capacity in which the latter is acting, whether as employer or as public authority. In either case it is necessary to prevent the State from taking advantage of its own failure to comply with EU law (judgments of 26 February 1986, Marshall, 152/84, EU:C:1986:84, paragraph 49; of 12 July 1990, Foster and Others, C‑188/89, EU:C:1990:313, paragraph 17, and of 14 September 2000, Collino and Chiappero, C‑343/98, EU:C:2000:441, paragraph 22).
33


On the basis of those considerations, the Court has held that provisions of a directive that are unconditional and sufficiently precise may be relied upon by individuals, not only against a Member State and all the organs of its administration, such as decentralised authorities (see, to that effect, judgment of 22 June 1989, Costanzo, 103/88, EU:C:1989:256, paragraph 31), but also, as was stated in the answer to the first question, against organisations or bodies which are subject to the authority or control of the State or which possess special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable to relations between individuals (judgments of 12 July 1990, Foster and Others, C‑188/89, EU:C:1990:313, paragraph 18, and of 4 December 1997, Kampelmann and Others, C‑253/96 to C‑258/96, EU:C:1997:585, paragraph 46).
34


Such organisations or bodies can be distinguished from individuals and must be treated as comparable to the State, either because they are legal persons governed by public law that are part of the State in the broad sense, or because they are subject to the authority or control of a public body, or because they have been required, by such a body, to perform a task in the public interest and have been given, for that purpose, such special powers.
35


Accordingly, a body or an organisation, even one governed by private law, to which a Member State has delegated the performance of a task in the public interest and which possesses for that purpose special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable to relations between individuals is one against which the provisions of a directive that have direct effect may be relied upon.
36


In this case, it must be noted that, under Article 3(1) of the First Directive, the Member States were obliged to take all appropriate measures to ensure that civil liability in respect of the use of vehicles normally based in its territory was covered by insurance.
37


The importance attached by the EU legislature to the protection of victims led it to supplement those arrangements by requiring Member States, under Article 1(4) of the Second Directive, to establish a body with the task of providing compensation, at least up to the limits laid down by EU law, for damage to property or personal injuries caused by an unidentified vehicle or a vehicle for which the insurance obligation under Article 1(1) of that directive, which refers to Article 3(1) of the First Directive, was not satisfied (judgment of 11 July 2013, Csonka and Others, C‑409/11, EU:C:2013:512, paragraph 29).
38


Therefore, the task that a compensation body such as MIBI is required by a Member State to perform, a task that contributes to the general objective of victim protection pursued by the EU legislation relating to compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance, must be regarded as a task in the public interest that is inherent, in this case, in the obligation imposed on the Member States by Article 1(4) of the Second Directive.
39


In that regard, it must be borne in mind that, in case of damage to property or personal injuries caused by a motor vehicle for which the insurance obligation provided for in Article 3(1) of the First Directive has not been satisfied, the Court has held that the intervention of such a body is designed to remedy the failure of a Member State to fulfil its obligation to ensure that civil liability in respect to the use of motor vehicles normally based in its territory is covered by insurance (see, to that effect, judgment of 11 July 2013, Csonka and Others, C‑409/11, EU:C:2013:512, paragraph 31).
40


As regards the MIBI, it must be added that, under Section 78 of the 1961 Act, the Irish legislature made membership of that organisation compulsory for all insurers who carry on motor vehicle insurance in Ireland. In doing so, the Irish legislature conferred on the MIBI special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable to relations between individuals, in that, on the basis of that statutory provision, that private organisation has the power to require all those insurers to become members of it and to contribute funds for the performance of the task conferred on it by the Irish State.
41


The provisions of a directive that are unconditional and sufficiently precise may consequently be relied upon against an organisation such as the MIBI.
42


In the light of the foregoing, the answer to the second and third questions is that provisions of a directive that are capable of having direct effect may be relied on against a private law body on which a Member State has conferred a task in the public interest, such as that inherent in the obligation imposed on the Member States by Article 1(4) of the Second Directive, and which, for that purpose, possesses, by statute, special powers, such as the power to oblige insurers carrying on motor vehicle insurance in the territory of the Member State concerned to be members of it and to fund it.