International Law

Review Procedure before the Court of Justice: Draft Amendments to the Rules of Procedure

By Bartolus

The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine actions or proceedings brought against decisions of the judicial panels set up under Article 225a.
Decisions given by the Court of First Instance under this paragraph may exceptionally be subject to review by the Court of Justice, under the conditions and within the limits laid down by the Statute, where there is a serious risk of the unity or consistency of Community law being affected.

The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine questions referred for a preliminary ruling under Article 234, in specific areas laid down by the Statute.
Where the Court of First Instance considers that the case requires a decision of principle likely to affect the unity or consistency of Community law, it may refer the case to the Court of Justice for a ruling.
Decisions given by the Court of First Instance on questions referred for a preliminary ruling may exceptionally be subject to review by the Court of Justice, under the conditions and within the limits laid down by the Statute, where there is a serious risk of the unity or consistency of Community law being affected.

Work has now started in the Council, it seems, for the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice to be amended to accommodate the "review procedure" referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 above.

First, there is a draft Council Decision specifying the language rules to be applied to the review procedure. Such a decision is needed because Article 64 of the Statute of the Court of Justice requires such a decision to be adopted by the Council acting unanimously after consulting the European Parliament and the Commission. The draft proposes that the language of the review procedure be that of the decision of the Court of First Instance to be reviewed.

A separate draft decision spells out the procedure for review and how the Court shall decide on the proposal of the First Advocate General as specified in Article 62 of the Statute.

Full post as published by EU Law Blog on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).