This article reviews a very recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) – the ‘Dansk Industri vRasmussen’ case - that appears to have major implications for courts (and tribunals) in Member States in terms of how they treat cases where a domestic law is identified as being in conflict with a Directive.

In order to properly understand the potential ramifications of this decision for Member States, it will first be necessary to provide some quite detailed background of the legal principles that have applied until this point and some of the consequences that have followed for employees seeking to assert their entitlements in law.

The Role of the Court of Justice