For over 30 years the French Conseil d'Etat has maintained that it is impossible to rely on EC Directives before French administrative courts in a complaint filed against an individual administrative act. This in spite of the Court of Justice's well known case-law that directives under certain conditions can have direct effect, as was first recognized in SpA SACE v Finance Minister of the Italian Republic of 17 December 1970 and confirmed by Van Duyn v Home Office of 4 December 1974.

Arcelor ruling – Legal pluralism in European integration – Judicial law-making transcending hierarchy – Role of courts for legal unity – Autonomy of courts under different mandates – Joint responsibility for legal coherence – Councils of State Report 2008 – Reversal of method of reference – Cilfit and Köbler prevent headway – Horizontal cooperation between national judges

Conseil constitutionnel and Conseil d'Etat now both hold that Article 88-1 of the French Constitution contains the duty to implement Community law – The Conseil constitutionnel tests whether acts of parliament manifestly contravene unconditional and precisely phrased provisions of Community law – Duty to implement Community law limited by France's constitutional identity for the Conseil constitutionnel, by the absence of equivalent protection on the Community level for the Conseil d'Etat – Supremacy of the Constitution not affected