The Court of Justice of the European Communities

Talk with Mr Inghelram, legal secretary to Judge Timmermans, President of Chamber

By Kangwook Yoon

I was asked to summarize what Mr. Inghelram of the Court of Justice would have explained. Unfortunately, he only had a little time to share with us because the previous talk with Advocate General Geelhoed took more time than we had expected. In fact, Mr. Inghelram made his presentation only for a few minutes. Therefore I had to refer to Mr Inghelram's presentation paper and the Internet homepage of the court (curia.eu.int). I hope that this brief report will help students understand the composition and procedure of the court..

1. Structure and Organizations

   
   

   1. Court of Justice as an Institution

   • The Court of Justice of the European Communities was set up under the ECSC Treaty in 1952.

   • The Court of First Instance was created in 1989 to help the Court of Justice cope with the large number of cases brought before it.

   • The European Civil Service Tribunal has been active since 2005. It adjudicates in disputes between the European Union and its civil services.

   
   

   2. Court of Justice

   • 25 Judges, appointed for 6 years

   - one judge per member states

   - all twenty five of the EU's national legal systems are represented

   • 8 Advocates General, appointed for 6 years

   - AG presents reasoned opinions on the cases brought before the Court with complete impartiality and independence.

   • 1 President, elected for 3 years among the Judges

   • 3 Presidents of chamber of 5 Judges, elected for 3 years

   • 1 First Advocate General, appointed for 1 year

   • 1 Registrar, appointed for 6 years

   - The Registrar is the institution's secretary general and manages its departments under the authority of the President of the Court.

   
   

   3. Services of the Court of Justice

   • 1757 Staff members

   • Court of First Instance and Civil Service Tribunal use services of the Court of Justice

2. Procedure

   
   

   1. Written Procedure(Direct Actions and Appeals)

   • Application

   • Notification to the defendant

   • Publication in the Official Journal of the EC

   • Defence

   • (Reply)

   • (Rejoinder)

   
   

   
   

   2. Written Procedure Requests for Preliminary rulings

   • Judgment or Order for reference of the national court

   • Translation

   • Notification to the parties, Member States, Community Institutions, etc

   • Publication in EU Official Journal

   • Written observations of parties, Member States and Institutions

   
   

   3. During written procedure

   • Appointment of a Judge-Rapporteur by the President

   • Appointment of an Advocate General by the First Advocate General

   
   

   4. After the written procedure

   • Preliminary Report by the Judge-Rapporteur

   • General Meeting

   • Assignment to a formation

   • (Hearing, Report of the hearing)

   • (Opinion of Advocate General → art. 20 Statute: new point of law)

   • Deliberation

   • Judgment/Order

   
   

   5. Possible formations

   • Full Court (25 Judges, quorum of 15 Judges)

   • Grand chamber (13 Judges, quorum of 9 Judges)

   • Chamber of 5 Judges (quorum of 3 Judges)

   • Chamber of 3 Judges (quorum of 3 Judges)

   - Formation depends on the importance and complexity of the case.

   
   

   6. Simplified procedure

   • Request for Preliminary rulings: Art. 104(3)

   Rules of Procedure (identical question, answer may be clearly deduced from existing case-law, no reasonable doubt for the answer)

   • Appeals: Art. 119 Rules of Procedure (clearly inadmissible or clearly unfounded)

   
   

   7. Expedited procedure

   - The expedited procedure enables the Court to give its rulings quickly in very urgent cases by reducing the time-limits and omitting certain steps in the procedure.

   • Preliminary rulings: Art. 104a Rules of Procedure ( e.g. Judgment 13/07/2001, Jippes e.a., C-189/01)

   • Direct actions and Appeals: Art. 62a Rules of Procedure ( e.g. Judgment 13/07/2004, Commission/Council ( Stability pact ), C-27/04)

   
   

3. Some Statistical Data ( 2005 )

   
   

   1. Cases introduced: 474 of which

   • Preliminary Proceedings: 221 ( 36 from NL )

   • Direct Action: 179 ( 8 against NL )

   • Appeals: 66

   • Other: 8

   
   

   2. Cases decided: 574 of which

   • Preliminary Proceedings: 254

   • Direct Actions: 263

   • Appeals: 48

   • Other: 9

   
   

   3. Average length of procedure

   • 20,4 months for preliminary Proceedings ( 23,5 in 2004 and 25,5 in 2003 )

   • 21,3 months for Direct Actions ( 20,2 in 2004 and 24,7 in 2003 )

   • 20,9 months for Appeals ( 21,3 in 2004 and 28,7 in 2003 )

   
   

   
   

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