Judgment_paragraph 22 · Portgás — Sociedade de Produção e Distribuição de Gás SA v Ministério da Agricultura, do Mar, do Ambiente e do Ordenamento do Território (C-425/12)

22In this connection, it should be recalled that, in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 288 TFEU, the binding nature of a directive, which constitutes the basis for the possibility of relying on it, exists only in relation to ‘each Member State to which it is addressed’. It follows, according to settled case-law, that a directive cannot of itself impose obligations on an individual and cannot therefore be relied on as such against such a person before a national court (Case 80/86 Kolpinghuis Nijmegen [1987] ECR 3969, paragraph 9; Case C-91/92 Faccini Dori [1994] ECR I-3325, paragraph 20; and Dominguez, paragraph 37 and the case-law cited).