Van Gend en Loos

Van Gend en Loos, formally NV Algemene Transport en Expeditie Onderneming van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen, was a 1963 decision of the Court of Justice of the European Communities holding that provisions of the founding Treaty establishing the European Economic Community could have direct effect, creating rights that individuals could invoke directly before their own national courts even without any implementing national legislation. The Court described the Community as constituting a new legal order of international law. Together with Costa v ENEL the following year, it is regarded as one of the two foundational judgments establishing the distinctive character of European Union law.