International agreements in the EU legal order : International Fruit

Abstract

Joined Cases 21–24/72, International Fruit Company NV and others v Produktschap voor Groenten en Fruit, ECLI:EU:C:1972:115, delivered 12 December 1972. In its memorandum to the Court, the Commission highlighted that International Fruit is the first preliminary reference concerning the influence of international law on the validity of secondary Union (then the European Economic Community) law.[1] The international law at issue in the case was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (the GATT). Given the novelty and importance of the issues arising, this case was destined to influence the posture of the Union as an international legal actor and the role played by international law in the EU legal order. The Court’s judgment in International Fruit has been harshly criticised, by public international lawyers among others, who have questioned both the Court’s stance on the relationship between international law and domestic law and the actual operation of the GATT. Provocatively, it has been suggested that the Court’s reasoning ‘sinks below criticism’.[2] Regardless of one’s 22evaluation of the judgment, International Fruit exemplifies the Court’s interest in defending the Union’s diplomatic interests by implicitly distinguishing the specificities of the EU legal order from the GATT system.