6.4 Conclusion

306. In the realm of the right to an effective remedy entrenched in Article 47 Charter, the principle of proportionality requires Member States, including national courts, to strike a reasonable, fair balance between all the rights and interests involved in the concrete circumstances of the case to arrive at a just remedy, one that provides for effective judicial protection of the right infringed and at the same time takes into consideration the interests of the perpetrator. The proportionality principle as thus interpreted guides national courts to identify the just remedies for infringements of Union law in horizontal legal relationships and, if there are more options available, to identify remedial hierarchies.1 If the legislative framework leaves judicial discretionary power in the determination of civil remedies, the proportionality principle is the yardstick. Considering that proportionality is an open norm that is concretised on the basis of the concrete circumstances of the case, Member States and in particular national courts in principle have a fair degree of latitude in determining the concrete remedy, not in the least place because they have knowledge of the concrete circumstances of the case and are therefore in a better position to determine concrete remedies. In relation to civil remedies for certain infringements of Union law, the Court of Justice has framed the proportionality requirement, often in conjunction with the elements of effectiveness and dissuasiveness, to give more guidance to national courts that have to determine such remedies. It is assumed that a civil remedy aims both to support the effectiveness of Union law, and to protect the private party whose right was infringed. As the legitimacy of those aims is self-evident, the Court of Justice mainly focuses on standards for balancing the concrete circumstances of a case. Hence, more than in other fields of Union law, the proportionality stricto sensu plays a main role in the concretization of the right to an effective and proportionate remedy for an infringement of Union law.