Direct effect is the principle of European Union law according to which provisions of Union law may, if appropriately framed, confer rights on individuals which the courts of European Union member states are bound to recognise and enforce. Not explicitly stated in any of the EU Treaties, the principle of direct effect was first established in relation to provisions of those treaties by the European Court of Justice in Van Gend en Loos v. Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen. Direct effect has subsequently been loosened in its application to treaty articles and the ECJ has expanded the principle, holding that it is capable of applying to virtually all of the possible forms of EU legislation, the most important of which are regulations and in certain circumstances to directives.

The ECJ first articulated the doctrine of direct effect in the case of Van Gend en Loos, the European Court of Justice laid down the criteria (commonly referred to as the "Van Gend criteria") for establishing direct effect. The provision must:

Michael David Apted, CMG (born 10 February 1941) is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.

On 29 June 2003 he was elected president of the Directors Guild of America. He returned to television, directing the first three episodes of the TV series Rome. Apted directed Amazing Grace which premiered at the closing of the Toronto Film Festival in 2006. His most recent feature film project was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which premiered 30 November 2010 at the Royal Film Performance. He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.

Apted was born to a middle-class family in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, the son of Frances Amelia (née Thomas) and Ronald William Apted, who worked for an insurance company. Michael Apted secured a scholarship to attend City of London School and then to study law and history at Downing College, Cambridge.