| Francovich v Italy | ||||||
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European Court of Justice |
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| Submitted 8 January 1990 Decided 19 November 1991 |
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| Full case name | Andrea Francovich and Danila Bonifaci and others v Italian Republic. | |||||
| Case number | C-6/90 | |||||
| Case type | Reference for a preliminary ruling | |||||
| Chamber | Full court | |||||
| Nationality of parties | Italy | |||||
| Procedural history | Pretura di Bassano del Grappa, Sezione lavoro, ordinanza del 30/12/1989, Pretura di Bassano del Grappa, Sezione lavoro, sentenza del 09/07/1992 03/08/1992 (273/92), Pretura circondariale di Bassano del Grappa, sentenza del 09/12/1993 (162/93), Pretura circondariale di Bassano del Grappa, ordinanza del 21/03/1995 (839 RG 162/93), Pretura di Vicenza, Sezione lavoro, ordinanza del 09/07/1989 10/07/1989 (1186/89), Pretura circondariale di Vicenza, Sezione lavoro, ordinanza del 16/12/1993 (206/93 (1186/89)) | |||||
| Ruling | ||||||
| 1. The provisions of Council Directive 80/987/EEC of 20 October 1980 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer which determine the rights of employees must be interpreted as meaning that the persons concerned cannot enforce those rights against the State before the national courts where no implementing measures are adopted within the prescribed period; 2. A Member State is required to make good loss and damage caused to individuals by failure to transpose Directive 80/987/EEC. |
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Francovich v. Italy was a decision of the European Court of Justice which established that European Union member states could be liable to pay compensation to individuals who suffered a loss by reason of the member state's failure to transpose a EU directive into national law. It is sometimes known as the principle of state liability in European Union law.
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The European Court of Justice held that the Italian government had breached its obligations, and was liable to compensate the workers' loss resulting from the breach. The Court further held that the damages for such breaches should be available before national courts, and that to establish state liability on the basis of the failure the implement a directive, claimants must prove that the directive conferred specific rights on them, identifiable in its wording, and that there is a causal link between the state's failure to implement the directive and the loss suffered.
Francovich and Bonifaci v Republic of Italy (Cases C-6 and 9/90) [1991] ECR I-5375