Case C-188/89 Foster v British Gas [1990] ECR I-3313

Key point

• This case defined bodies that ’emanations of the state’, whose acts can be challenged in national court for compatibility with EU directives

Facts

• British Gas is a nationalised public utility
• Claimants sought to challenge British Gas policy which requires women to retire at 60 but men at 65 against the Equal Treatment Directive
• The Equal Treatment Directive had not been implemented in national law although its implementation period has expired
• Preliminary reference was made on whether directives can be relied upon in national court against a state owned enterprise like British Gas

Ruling

• British Gas is is an emanation of the state
• Thus the Equal Treatment Directive can be relied upon against it in national court

Judgment

• Definition of ‘emanation of the state’:
  • a body, whatever its legal form,
  • which has been made responsible, pursuant to a measure adopted by the state, for providing a public service under the control of the state, and
  • has for that purpose special powers beyond those which result from the normal rules applicable in relation between individuals

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