THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN

UNION

Established in 1952 The judicial authority of the EU Cooperates with the courts and tribunals of the

Member States Has its seat in Luxembourg

It is the highest court in the EU in matters of EU law It ensures equal interpretation and application of the

EU law in all Member States Settles legal disputes between EU Member States,

EU institutions, as well as businesses and individuals

a multilingual institution→ each of the official languages of the European Union can be the language of a case

Consists of three courts:

1) The Court of Justice/ Sud

2) The General Court/ Opći sud (1988)

3) The Civil Service Tribunal/ Službenički sud (2004)

The Registry/ Tajništvo Administrative organ of the Court responsible for maintaining the case-files for

pending cases keeps the register of all the procedural

documents the Court appoints a Registrar for a term of six

years

The Registrar is responsible for the acceptance, transmission and custody of all documents and records

he assists the Members of the Court is in charge of the publications of the Court

Each court also has its own registry responsible for the efficient handling of cases

1. COURT OF JUSTICE/ SUD

6 year term, renewable

appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States

3 year term, renewable

Elected by the Judges

28 JUDGES ↓

9 ADVOCATES GENERAL/ NEZAVISNI ODVJETNICI

↓

THE PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE JUDGES

The President directs the work of the Court and presides at hearings and deliberation of the full Court or Grand Chamber

The Vice-President assists the President and takes his place when necesarry

The Advocates General assist the Court they present ,with complete impartiality, an

‘opinion‘(prijedlog odluke) in the cases assigned to them

The Court may sit as a full court, in a Grand Chamber(veliko vijeće) of 15 Judges or in Chambers (sudsko vijeće) of three or five Judges

JURISDICTION

5 most common types of cases brought before the Court are:

1) References for preliminary rulings/ Prethodno pitanje

2) Actions for failure to fulfil obligations/Tužba zbog povrede

3) Actions for annulment/ Tužba za poništenje

4) Actions for failure to act/ Tužba zbog propusta

5) Direct actions/ Izravne tužbe

PROCEDURE

Whatever the type of case, there is always a written stage and, if appropriate, an oral stage, which is public

However, a distinction must be drawn between, references for preliminary rulings and other actions, known as ‘direct actions'

In references for preliminary rulings 1) The national court submits questions to the Court of

Justice about the interpretation or validity of a provision of European Union law

2) The request is then translated into all the European Union languages

3) The Registry notifies it to the parties to the national proceedings, and also to all the Member States and the institutions of the European Union

4) A notice is published in the Official Journal of the EU

5) The parties, the Member States and the institutions have two months within which to submit written observations to the Court of Justice

In direct actions

1) The action,brought by application, is addressed to the Registry

2) The Registrar publishes a notice of the action in the Official Journal setting out the applicant’s claims and arguments

3) At the same time, the application is served on the party sued, who has one month within which to lodge a defence

4) The applicant may lodge a reply and the defendant a rejoinder, the time allowed being one month in each instance

Preparatory inquiries

once the written procedure is closed, the parties may state, within three weeks, whether and why they wish a hearing to be held

The Court decides, whether any preparatory inquiries are needed, what type of formation the case should be assigned to, and whether a hearing should be held for oral argument, for which the President will fix the date

ORAL PHASE

PUBLIC HEARING

↓

Opinion of the Advocate General

↓

Deliberation by the Judges

↓

Judgment

the case is argued before the bench and the Advocate General

the Advocate General delivers his or her Opinion before the Court of Justice

He suggests completely independently to the Court how the problem should be solved

If it is decided that the case raises no new question of law, the Court may decide, after hearing the Advocate General, to give judgment without an Opinion

Judgments

The Judges deliberate on the basis of a draft judgment drawn up by the Judge-Rapporteur (sudac izvjestitelj)

Decisions of the Court of Justice are taken by majority and no record is made public of any dissenting opinions

Judgments are signed by all the Judges who took part in the deliberation

Language arrangements the language of the case is that of the

national court which made the reference to the Court of Justice

Oral proceedings at hearings are interpreted simultaneously into various official languages of the European Union

2. GENERAL COURT

Established in 2004 Made up of at least one judge from each

Member State Judges are appointed by common accord of

the governments of the Member States Their term of office is six years (renewable) They appoint their President (3 year term),

and a Registrar (6 year term)

The General Court sits in Chambers of five or three judges or, in some cases, as a single judge

It may also sit as a Grand Chamber (13) or in plenary session when this is justified by the legal complexity or importance of the case

Has it own rules of procedure →include a written phase and an oral phase

The General Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine:

direct actions brought by natural or legal persons for annulment of acts of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union

actions brought by the Member States against the Commission

actions brought by the Member States against the Council

Claims for compensation for damage caused by EU institutions, body and staff

3. CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL

Composed of 7 Judges appointed by the Coucil for a period of 6 years (renewable)

the Council ensures a balanced composition on as broad a geographical basis and as broad a representation of the national legal systems as possible

The President is elected for a term of three years and a Registrar for a term of six years

JURISDICTION

Its special field is the sphere of disputes involving the European Union civil service

has jurisdiction to hear and determine at first instance disputes between the European Union and its servants

may not hear and determine cases between national administrations and their employees

decisions given by the Civil Service Tribunal may be subject to an appeal, to the General Court

decisions on appeal by the General Court may in turn be re-examined before the Court of Justice, in exceptional circumstances