Examples of EC Members in a sentence
Bearing this conclusion in mind, the article focuses on the real problem of responsibility of the EC and the EC Members, especially on the question of attribution of the failures of treaty performance of EC Members to the EC and vice versa.
However, avoiding such a situation was the very reason for their joint Membership in the first place! Consequently, the EC is obliged by internal rules not to invoke Article 27 in con- nection with Article 46 as an excuse for wrongful acts of the EC Members, and in fact has never done so.
Hence, EC competence rules can be regarded as ‘provi- sions of internal law’ of the EC Members in the sense of Art.
States are the original subjects of international law and undoubted bearers of unlimited legal personality.70 Hence, there is no doubt that under interna- tional law the EC Members were able to become full Members of the WTO.71 Whether they are obliged to refrain from doing so by national rules is, of course, another ques- tion.
As mentioned before, the responsibility of the EC does not necessarily rule out the simultaneous responsibility of the EC Members.
Conse- quently, the organ’s act must be attributed to both the EC and its Members simultane- ously.78 EC Members are consequently (at least to a certain degree) responsible for all acts of their respective organs which violate the WTO.
One case in which this problem actually arose was the LAN case.88 In that case, the US held both the EC and the EC Members Ireland and the UK responsible for an alleged breach of tariff concessions under Article II of GATT 1994.
With regard to the responsibility of the EC Members, again the question is whether they are each bound by the whole WTO Agreement.
The best one can get are Articles XI and XIV(1) of the Marrakesh Agreement, which permit all Members of GATT 1949 – which includes the then twelve EC Members and the EC itself – to become ‘original Members of the WTO’, but remain silent as to any kind of partition of membership between the EC and its Members.9 It is thus not clear from the Treaty at first glance whether the EC or the EC Members are bound by a provision.
Whether the EC is also responsible in cases where those organs fulfil obligations of EC Members is another question.