Resumen de Towards horizontal direct effect for the free movement of goods?. Comment on Fra.Bo

Herman van Harten, Thomas Nauta

• The judgment in the Fra.bo case is of particular importance for the question of which persons or bodies are bound by the free movement of goods. In a relatively brief judgment, the Court of Justice held that art.34 TFEU applies to the standardisation and certification activities of a private-law body where the national legislation considers the products certified by that body to be compliant with national law, which has the effect of restricting the market access of products which are not certified by that body. Although the Court - contrary to its Advocate General - does not explicitly mention the concept of horizontal direct effect, the judgment seems to develop further the personal scope of the free movement of goods. This comment will place the judgment in the context of earlier case law on the personal scope of art.34 TFEU and the horizontality of EU free movement law in general.