The Court recognized the practical effect of having certain nations applying the Union standard in regard to an environmental protection and others not applying them. This recognition resulted in the Court's developing a principle to by-pass this discrepancy. This principle known as "the direct effect" has been applied by the Court in cases where the provisions of the directive are (i) sufficiently precise and clear, (ii) the alleged rights are unconditional, (iii) the provisions thoroughly define the legal relationship (implementation and application requirements), and, (iv) the time allowed to a Member State for implementation of the directive has expired. The practical effect of this application by the Court is to afford parties to any litigation the full legal rights set forth in the Union directive even though the specific nation involved has not enacted the directive as controlling law. Unfortunately, the Court of Justice has used the "direct effect" rule...
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