Case C-212/04 Adeneler [2006] ECR I-6057

• This was a case concerning a directive’s attempts to convert a long series of fixed term contracts into one employment relationship, unless there was objective justification for the arrangement versus national law permitting the arrangement.

ECJ

• Held that:

The national courts are bound to interpret domestic law so far as possible, once the period for transposition has expired, in the light of the wording and the purpose of the directive concerned with a view to achieving the results sought by the directive, favouring the interpretation of the national rules which is the most consistent with that purpose in order thereby to achieve an outcome compatible with the provisions of the directive.

• It therefore said that the directive meant that any national legislation prohibiting the conversion of such an arrangement into an employment relationship was to be disapplied. 

Where a directive is transposed belatedly, the general obligation owed by the national courts to interpret domestic law in conformity with the directive exists only once the period for its transposition has expired.