Tens of thousands of contractors are cursed with a government that you say ought to respect the decisions of the courts but nonetheless passes laws whereby it refuses to respect the final decisions of the courts and the case-law of the European Court.

Knowledge on the substance and application of European Union law cannot be solely acquired from EU legal sources, but also the case law of national courts has to be taken into account, both decisions asking for a preliminary ruling, as well as decisions following a preliminary ruling and those applying EU law on its own.

In line with the stated principles on proportionality and decentralisation, decisions on the courts and tribunals to participate in this case law identification and metadata system have to be taken at the national level.

Jurisprudence" as understood by CLAB covers not only court judgements but also decisions by administrative bodies, voluntary agreements, out-of-court settlements and arbitration awards.

This third report and the accompanying Staff Working Document draw on a number of sources: the previous reports of the Commission pursuant to Article 34 of the Council Framework Decision in 2006[8] and 2007[9]; the final report and recommendations of the fourth round of mutual evaluations carried out by the Council of the European Union (hereinafter ‘Council recommendations’)[10] and adopted by the Council in June 2010[11]; the outcome of an experts meeting on 5 November 2009; answers provided by the Member States to requests for updated information from the Commission on 30 June 2009 and 25 June 2010; and case law where applicable.

The German authorities attached to their reply a series of judgments by German courts to demonstrate the established case-law in favour of their interpretation.