Clock Manufacturing - Essay Example

All cuckoo clocks sold and manufactured within Austria have to comply with this new standard. However this new technical standard was not informed to the European Commission. European Parliament and Council Directive 98/34 on the provision of information in the field of technical standards, require that all new technical standards be notified to the Commission before they are brought into force. Secondly, from November 2005, following complaints from German trading standards officers about the poor quality of some cuckoo-clocks exported from Austria, all cuckoo clocks which did not meet the new technical standards specified were prohibited from being exported to countries outside Austria to preserve the reputation of the clock manufacturing tradition.

This new legal provision was again not notified to the Commission. Considering these new standards and legal provisions in place and the fact that the European Commission has not been informed either of the new standards in place or the changes to legal provisions for export of clocks from Austria, legal advice on manufacturing and export/import issues could be given to the clients. The role of the direct effects of directives and access to justice for individuals with employment rights seem to be central in such situations1.

Differentiating direct and indirect effects, indirect effects apply to a principle in EU law stating that EU directives are capable of dis-applying laws of member states if these laws are not approved by the EU under certain circumstances2. Thus in EU a directive is a legislative order requiring implementation by every member state of the union. Member states however do have the freedom to implement their own laws, yet they must comply with the aims of the original directives3. In contrast, regulations imply a single law that is directly effective on each Member state.

EU law has the provision for incidental effects which is used in association with indirect effects of EU directives for suits that are filed against individuals4. An individual cannot be sued for failure to comply with EU directives. In a similar case C-194/94 CIA Security International SA v. Signalson SA and Securitel Sprl ([1996] ECR I-2201, the CIA had attempted to distribute a burglar alarm in Belgium which was not in accordance with the technical specifications laid out by the Belgian authorities.

Yet, since the Belgian government had failed to inform the EU on these specifications, as required by a directive in 1983, the court ruled that this constituted a disrespect or degradation of the effectiveness of the EU directives. The EU directives are meant to remove barriers to trade within the EU5, and that the Belgian government's breach of this directive made the Belgian law inapplicable to individuals.This assignment is done to advise the clients Andreas, Bergland and Christina, who are facing similar problems and the cases for each are given below.

The Legal Provisions:A new technical standard for Austrian cuckoo clock manufacturing was introduced in 2005 and this is a standard laid down by the Austrian authorities. The new regulations and legal standards that all manufacturers and sellers of Austrian clocks are required to follow are given in the context of advice to three clients namely Andreas, Bergland and Christina. The three cases are discussed separately according to the legal provisions available and the legal regulations