ECJ and Judicial Remedies (2024/2025) PDF

# The Court of Justice of the European Union ## EU LAW (Global Law) a. a. 2024/2025 **PROF. Avv. LUCA CALZOLARI, PH.D, LL.M** # The Court of Justice of the European Union - It is a single institution, but it is divided into plurality of sections and formations (grand chamber, etc). - **Main f...

# The Court of Justice of the European Union ## EU LAW (Global Law) a. a. 2024/2025 **PROF. Avv. LUCA CALZOLARI, PH.D, LL.M** # The Court of Justice of the European Union - It is a single institution, but it is divided into plurality of sections and formations (grand chamber, etc). - **Main function:** to ensure the **correct and uniform interpretation and application** of EU law as well as to guarantee that all the subjects of the EU legal order comply with EU law (see Article 19 TEU) ## Composition - The CJEU is composed by the **Court of Justice** and the **General Court**. - The General Court has been created in 1988 to improve the protection of natural and legal persons (to guarantee first and second instance) and to enable the CJEU to focus on the uniform application of the law. # Competences of the CJEU ## Litigation - **Control over the legitimacy of the conducts of the EU Institutions and of the MS** - **Liability of the EU Institutions (art. 340 TFEU)** - **Labour litigation with EU officials and agents (art. 270 TFEU)** - **Jurisdiction clause (artt. 272 o 273 TFEU)** ## Competences - **Annulment procedure - EU Institutions (263 TFEU)** - **Infringement procedure - MS (258 TFEU)** - **<<<Failure to act>>> procedure (264 TFEU)** - **Exception of inapplicability (art. 277 TFEU)** - **Example = art. 37 of ESM Treaty** ## First Exception - The Court does not have jurisdiction in **CFSP matters** other than to review compliance with the division of competencies and to verify whether CFSP measures affect natural or legal persons. ## Second Exception - In the **AFSJ**, the Court does not have jurisdiction to examine the validity and proportionality of police operations to maintain public order and internal security. ## Preliminary Jurisdiction - **The involvement of the Court occurs in the context of a proceeding pending before a national court.** - **Compatibility with EU law of international agreements (art. 218 TFEU)** - **Preliminary reference procedure (art. 267 TFEU)** ## Advisory Jurisdiction - **Interpretation** - **Validity** # Composition of the CJEU-ECJ - **One judge for each Member State** (the overall number of judges varies depending on the membership of the EU- for example Brexit, after the Withdrawal Agreement) ## Formation - **The Court may sit as:** - **Chamber:** the ordinary formation is composed by 3 or 5 judges - **Grand Chamber:** 13 judges, if requested by a MS of by the Institutions - **Full Court:** 27 judges, if so required by the importance of the case. ## Advocate General - In addition to the judges, also 11 **advocates general** are part of the Court: - **AGs** are impartial and independent and submit to the Court their opinion on the case. - Each of the larger MS always appoints an AG. - The other AGs are appointed by the "smaller" MS on a. ## Selection of Judges - Judges and lawyers are **chosen from persons who offer guarantees of independence and who are eligible in their home MS for the highest judicial offices**. ## Appointment - **Jointly appointed for 6 years by the MSs after consultation with a committee that gives an opinion on the suitability of the candidates (so-called "255" committee)**. - The term of office is renewable. ## President of the Court - **Appointed by the judges for 3 years (renewable term)** - **The Statute of the CJ has the same legal value as the Treaties**. # Composition of the CJEU - GC and specialized tribunals ## General Court - **At least one judge per MS appointed for 6 years by mutual agreement of the MSs.** - **AGs may be present but, in principled, the issuance of an opinion is not necessary The President is appointed for 3 years**. ## Specialized Tribunals - The EP and the Council may establish **specialized Courts to hear as first instance court certain categories of actions in specific matters**. - The Civil Service Tribunal had **exclusive jurisdiction over disputes between EU and officials since 2004, but was repealed in 2016**. - **Patent Court? International agreement to create Tribunal with power of preliminary referral**. # Composition of the CJEU ## Ornella Porchia - President of the Tenth Chamber ### Biography and Career - Born in 1966 in Chivasso (Italy), Ms Ornella Porchia obtained a degree in law from the **Università degli Studi di Torino** (University of Turin, Italy) in 1991 and a research doctorate in law from the **Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi** (Bocconi University, Milan, Italy) in 1996. - She started her professional career in 1994 as a lawyer admitted to the Turin Bar and then joined the **Università degli Studi di Torino** as an assistant professor from 1997 to 2002, where she was also, from 2002 to 2007, Associate Professor of International Law and, since 2007, Professor of EU Law. - Between 2010 and 2014, she was a member of the Research Department of the **Corte costituzionale** (Constitutional Court, Italy). From 2014 to 2019, she worked a legal adviser to the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union. Her research work in EU and international law was the subject of numerous publications. - Ms Porchia was appointed as a **Judge at the General Court on 26 September 2019** and has served as President of Chamber since 19 September 2022. ### Memberships of legal, cultural, artistic, social, sporting or charitable foundations, organisations or establishments - Member of the scientific committee of the journals **Il diritto dell'economia** and **Studi sull'integrazione europea** - Member of the **European Law Institute** (member of the Advisory Committee of the 'Common Constitutional Traditions in Europe' project) - Member of the **Associazione Italiana degli Studiosi di diritto dell'Unione europea** (AISDUE) - Member of the **Società italiana di diritto internazionale** (SIDI) - Member (socio corrispondente) of the **Accademia delle Scienze di Torino** # Division of internal competencies at the CJEU: the Court of Justice ## Court of Justice - **Infringement Procedure:** Always - **Preliminary reference procedure:** Always until September 2024, now some areas have been transferred to the GC. - **Annulment Procedure (and other direct actions):** The division is more complex - **Second Instance Jurisdiction:** Appeal over the decisions rendered by the General Court. - **art. 256(3) TFEU has always imagined a division of competences with the GC**. - **Application of a MS and/or of a EU Institutions (with the exception of a few specific matters)** - **On point of law only (art. 56 of the CJEU Statute)** # Division of internal competencies at the CJEU: the General Court ## General Court - **Infringement Procedure:** Never. - **Preliminary reference procedure:** Since October 2024 the GC has acquired competences in certain matters (see next slides) - **Annulment Procedure (and other direct actions):** On application of natural and legal persons - **Labour litigation with EU officials and agents (after the abolition of the Civil Service Tribunal in 2016):** On application of MSs or EU Institutions only in specific matters (e.g. State aids, antidumping duties) # Division of internal competencies at the CJEU: the General Court - Since October 2024, the Court of Justice shares its jurisdiction over references for a preliminary ruling with the General Court. - References for a preliminary ruling which come **exclusively within the following areas** are transferred to the General Court: - the common system of value added tax; - excise duties; - the Customs Code; - the tariff classification of goods under the Combined Nomenclature; - compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding or delay or cancellation of transport services; - the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading. - See https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2024-10/cp240154en.pdf # The three main procedures before the CJEU ## Infringement Procedure - **Main function:** control over the conducts of Member States and their compliance with EU law. - **Subject matter:** always the conduct of a Member State. - **EU Commission:** has a central role, being the so-called guardian of the Treaties. - The judgement rendered by the ECJ is declaratory in nature (i.e. the infringement is ascertained) + sanctions only after a second streamlined infringement procedure. ## Annulment Procedure - **Main function:** control over the conduct of the EU Institutions and in particular over the legitimacy of EU secondary law with EU primary law. - **Subject matter:** it is always and solely EU secondary law. - **Applicants** (privileged, semi-privileged and not privileged) can ask the Court to remove “flawed acts" (see article 264 TFEU for the grounds of annulment) form the EU legal order. - Judicial review of legitimacy not extended to the merits (with a few limited exceptions, e.g. fines in antitrust matters). ## Preliminary Reference Procedure - **Enables the dialogue between Court of Justice and national courts**. - **If a national court has doubts about the interpretation or validity of EU law, it can (and in certain cases must) stay the proceeding and make the referral to the ECJ**. - Subject matter = all EU law (interpretation referral) or all secondary law (validity referral) - **Hybrid remedy** - **Referral of validity:** It allows the Court to review secondary law legality (similar to action for annulment). - **Referral of interpretation:** In the application practice concerning the interpretation referral, the possibility has developed for the Court to indirectly verify the compatibility of domestic law with the disposition of EU law being interpreted (e.a.. "Article X TFEU prevents national legislation. such as the one referred to by the referring court. # Thank you for the attention! - questions? **Prof. Avv. Luca Calzolari, LL.M, Ph.D** [email protected]