Fallimento Olimiclub Srl v Fondo Interbancario di Tutela dei...

Facts

• Fallimento Olimiclub Srl concerned a conflict between Italian insolvency law and a Council Directive on the reorganization and winding-up of credit institutions.
• The Italian courts had issued a final judgment before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) interpreted the relevant Directive in a subsequent case.
• The case addressed whether the Italian final judgment could be reopened following the ECJ’s definitive interpretation of EU law.

Issues

1. Whether the principle of EU law supremacy requires national courts to reopen final judgments that conflict with subsequently clarified EU law.
2. Under what conditions may a final national judgment be reopened to comply with a new, definitive interpretation of EU law by the ECJ.
3. How the principles of EU law supremacy and national procedural autonomy interact in determining access to mechanisms for reopening final judgments.

Decision

• The ECJ held that the supremacy of EU law may, in principle, require the reopening of a final national judgment to ensure compliance with EU law.
• Reopening is conditional on the ECJ providing a new and definitive interpretation of the relevant EU law that could not have been reasonably foreseen at the time of the final judgment.
• The absence of other effective remedies is a prerequisite for reopening a final judgment; if alternatives exist, reopening may not be necessary.
• National procedural autonomy is respected but cannot render the exercise of EU rights practically impossible or excessively difficult; national courts must have mechanisms for reopening where EU law requires it.

Legal Principles

• The supremacy of EU law obliges national courts to disapply conflicting national provisions, including those with constitutional status.
• National procedural autonomy allows Member States to set procedural rules, but these are limited by the principle of effectiveness of EU law.
• The ECJ confirmed that the effectiveness and uniform application of EU law may require overriding even final national judgments in certain circumstances.
• Mechanisms for reopening final judgments must be available when necessary for compliance with EU law, provided specific criteria are met.

Conclusion

The ECJ in Olimiclub established that the supremacy of EU law may obligate the reopening of final national judgments if a new and unforeseeable interpretation by the ECJ so requires and if no other remedies exist, balancing the effectiveness of EU law with respect for national procedural rules.