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European Court of Justice
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- Not be confused with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, part of the Council of Europe
The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union (EU). It has the ultimate say on matters of EU law in order to ensure its equal application across all EU member states.
The court was established in 1952 and is unlike most other Union institutions based in Luxembourg.
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Encyclopedia
- Not be confused with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, part of the Council of Europe
The Court of Justice of the European Communities, usually called the European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court of the European Union (EU). It has the ultimate say on matters of EU law in order to ensure its equal application across all EU member states.
The court was established in 1952 and is unlike most other Union institutions based in Luxembourg. The court is composed of one judge per member state currently 27 although it normally hears cases in chambers of three, five or thirteen members. The court is led by a president who since 2003 has been Vassilios Skouris.
The court is assisted by a lower court, the Court of First Instance, which has jurisdiction over direct actions brought by natural or legal persons, and by the Civil Service Tribunal, which hears cases brought by employees of the EU's institutions.
History
The court was established in 1952, by the Treaty of Paris (1951) as part of the European Coal and Steel Community. It was established with seven judges, allowing both representation of each of the six member States and being an unequal number of judges in case of a tie. One judge was appointed from each member state and the seventh seat rotated between the "large Member States" (Germany, France and Italy). It became an institution of two additional Communities in 1957 when the Treaties of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).
When in 1993 the Maastricht Treaty created the European Union, the name of the court did not change like the other institutions, as its powers were still primarily over the European Community pillar of the union.
Overview
The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of Community law, but not national law. It is not possible to appeal the decisions of national courts to the ECJ, but rather national courts refer questions of EU law to the ECJ. However, it is ultimately for the national court to apply to resulting interpretation to the facts of any given case. This allows even the lowest of courts to refer question of EU law for a decision, although only courts of final appeal are bound to refer a question of EU law when one is raised before it. The treaties charge the ECJ with ensuring the consistent application of EU law across the EU as a whole, in an attempt to avoid different national courts interpreting and applying in different way.
The court also acts as arbiter between the EU's institutions and can annul the latter's legal rights if it acts outisde its powers.
Organisation
Judges
The Court of Justice consists of 27 Judges who are assisted by 8 Advocates-General. The Judges and Advocates-General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the member states and hold office for a renewable term of six years. The treaties require that they are chosen from legal experts whose independence is "beyond doubt" and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries or who are of recognised competence. In practice, each member state nominates a judge whose nomination is then ratified by all the other member states.
The President of the Court of Justice is elected from and by the judges for a renewable term of three years. The president presides over hearings and deliberations, directing both judicial business and administration (for example, the time table of the Court and Grand Chamber). He or she also assigns cases to the chambers for examination and appoints judge as rapporteurs. The Council may also appoint Assistant Rapporteurs to assist the President in applications for the adoption of interim measures and to assist Judge-Rapporteurs in the performance of their duties.
Chambers
The Court can sit as in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three of five judges. Each chamber elects its own president who is elected for a term of three years in the case of the five-judge chambers or one year in the case of three-judge chambers.
The Court is required to sit in full court in exceptional cases provided for in the treaties, although the court may also decide to sit in full court, the issues raised are considered to be of exceptional importance. Sitting as a Grand Chamber is more common and can happen when a Member State or a Union institution, that is a party to certain proceedings, so requests, or in particularly complex or important cases.
The court acts as a collegiate body: decisions are those of the court rather than of individual judges; no minority opinions are given and indeed the existence of a majority decision rather than unanimity is never suggested.
Advocates-General
The judges are assisted by eight Advocates-General who are responsible for presenting a legal opinion on the cases assigned to them. They can question the parties involved and then give their opinion on a legal solution to the case before the judges deliberate and deliver their judgement. The intention behind having Advocates-General attached is to provide independent and impartial opinions concerning the Court's cases. Unlike the Court's judgements, the written opinions of the Advocates-General are the works of a single author and are consequently generally more readable and deal with the legal issues more comprehensively than the Court which is limited to the particular matters at hand. The AGs opinions are advisory and do not bind the Court, but they are nonetheless very influential and are followed in the majority of cases. As of 2003, Advocates-General are only required to give am opinion if the Court considered the case raises a new point of law.
Five of the eight Advocates-General are nominated as of right by the 5 big member states of the European Union: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. The other 3 positions rotate in alphabetical order between the 22 smaller member states: currently Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. Being only a little smaller than Spain, Poland has repeatedly requested a permanent Advocate General. It achieved this during negotiations on the Treaty of Lisbon. If Lisbon comes into force the number of Advocates-General will be increased to 11, with six being held permanently, by the six biggest states, and five being rotated between the other member states.
The Registrar
The Registrar is the Court's chief administrator. He or she manages departments under the authority of the Court's President, is appointed by the Court for a renewable term of six years. The Court may also appoint one or more Assistant Registrars. He or she helps the Court, the Chambers, the President and the Judges in all their official functions. He or she is responsible for the Registry as well as for the receipt, transmission and custody of documents and pleadings which have been entered in a register initialled by the President. He or she is Guardian of the Seals and is responsible for the Court's archives and publications. The Registrar is responsible for the administration of the Court, its financial management and its accounts. The operation of the Court is in the hands of officials and other servants who are responsible to the Registrar under the authority of the President. The Court administers its own infrastructure; this includes the Translation Directorate, which, as of 2006 employed 45 percent of the staff of the institution.
Jurisdiction
It is the responsibility of the Court of Justice to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaties of the European Union and of the provisions laid down by the competent Community institutions. To enable it to carry out that task, the Court has wide jurisdiction to hear various types of action. The Court has competence, inter alia, to rule on applications for annulment or actions for failure to act brought by a Member State or an institution, actions against Member States for failure to fulfil obligations, references for a preliminary ruling and appeals against decisions of the Court of First Instance.
Forms of action
Actions for failure to fulfil obligations
Under Article 226 of the Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community, the Court of Justice may determine whether a Member State has fulfilled its obligations under Community law. The commencement of proceedings before the Court of Justice is preceded by a preliminary procedure conducted by the Commission, which gives the Member State the opportunity to reply to the complaints against it. If that procedure does not result in termination of the failure by the Member State, an action for breach of Community law may be brought before the Court of Justice. That action may be brought by the Commission as is practically always the case or by another Member State,although the cases of the latter kind remain extremely rare. If the Court finds that an obligation has not been fulfilled, the Member State concerned must terminate the breach without delay. If, after new proceedings are initiated by the Commission, the Court of Justice finds that the Member State concerned has not complied with its judgement, it may, upon the request of the Commission, impose on the Member State a fixed or a periodic financial penalty.
Actions for annulment
By an action for annulment under Article 230 of the Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community, the applicant seeks the annulment of a measure (regulation, directive or decision) adopted by an institution. The Court of Justice has exclusive jurisdiction over actions brought by a Member State against the European Parliament and/or against the Council (apart from Council measures in respect of State aid, dumping and implementing powers) or brought by one Community institution against another. The Court of First Instance has jurisdiction, at first instance, in all other actions of this type and particularly in actions brought by individuals. The Court of Justice has the power to declare measures void under Article 231 of the Maastricht Treaty.
Actions for failure to act
Under Article 232 of the Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community, the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance may also review the legality of a failure to act on the part of a Community institution. However, such an action may be brought only after the institution has been called on to act. Where the failure to act is held to be unlawful, it is for the institution concerned to put an end to the failure by appropriate measures.
Application for compensation based on non-contractual liability
Under Article 235 of the Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community (and with reference to Article 288), the Court of Justice hears claims for compensation based on non-contractual liability, and rules on the liability of the Community for damage to citizens and to undertakings caused by its institutions or servants in the performance of their duties.
Appeals on points of law
Under Article 225 of the Consolidated Treaty Establishing the European Community, appeals on judgements given by the Court of First Instance may be heard by the Court of Justice only if the appeal is on a point of law. If the appeal is admissible and well founded, the Court of Justice sets aside the judgement of the Court of First Instance. Where the state of the proceedings so permits, the Court may itself decide the case. Otherwise, the Court must refer the case back to the Court of First Instance, which is bound by the decision given on appeal.
Relationship with the Court of Human Rights
The Court of Justice is separate from the European Court of Human Rights. The latter is based in Strasbourg as part of the Council of Europe. Since 1950, it has supervised compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and thus functions as the highest European court for human rights and fundamental freedoms. All EU members are members of the Council of Europe and have signed the Convention on Human Rights. There are concerns about consistency in case law between the two courts. Hence the Court of Justice refers to the case-law of the Court of Human Rights and treats the Convention on Human Rights as thought it was part of the EU's legal system. Even though its members have joined, the EU as a whole has not, as it does not have competence to do so under the current treaties. However, the EU institutions are bound under article 6 of the EU treaty to respect human rights under the Convention. Furthermore, if the Treaty of Lisbon is ratified, the EU is expected to sign the Convention. This would make the Court of Justice bound by the Court of Human Rights and subject to its human rights law. This would solve the problem of conflicting case law.
Seat
All the EU's judicial bodies are based in Luxembourg, separate from the political institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. The Court of Justice is based in the Palais building, currently under expansion, in the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg.
Luxembourg was chosen as the provisional seat of the Court on 1952-07-23 with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community. Its first hearing there was held on 1954-10-28 in a building down as Villa Vauban, the seat until 1959 when it would move to the Cτte d'Eich building and then to the Palais building in 1972.
In 1965 the member states established Luxembourg as the permanent seat of the Court. Future judicial bodies (Court of First Instance and Civil Service Tribunal) would also be based in the city. The decision was confirmed by the European Council at Edinburgh in 1992. However there was no reference to future bodies being in Luxembourg. In reaction to this, the Luxembourgian government issued its own declaration stating it did not surrender those provisions agreed upon in 1965. The Edinburgh decision was attached to the Amsterdam Treaty. With the Treaty of Nice Luxembourg attached a declaration stating it did not claim the seat of the Boards of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market - even if it were to become a judicial body.
Future
The Treaty of Lisbon (and also the European Constitution that failed to ratify) will rename the Court of Justice of the European Communities officially to "Court of Justice". The Court of First Instance will be renamed "General Court", and the term "Court of Justice of the European Union" will officially designate the two levels of jurisdiction taken together. There would also be one extra Advocate General, put forward by Poland.
See also
Bibliography and further reading
External links
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- - blog with daily news about the European Court of Justice
- - European NAvigator
- , about the buildings
- , about the buildings
- Josselin (U de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U de Reims CA/CNRS), The Review of International Organizations
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