Reform of the Statute of the Court of Justice
The EU has taken an important step towards a more effective administration of justice by the EU courts.
The Council presidency and European Parliament representatives today reached a provisional agreement on a reform of the Statute of the Court of Justice, which will improve the functioning of the Court of Justice of the EU against the background of a steady increase in the number of cases brought before it and in the complexity and sensitive nature of questions raised.
The changes to the Statute of the Court of Justice will allow the Court of Justice of the EU to manage its judicial work more efficiently, by taking advantage of a previous judicial reform that increased the number of judges in the General Court.
Changes regarding preliminary rulings
The reform will permit the transfer of jurisdiction over preliminary rulings to the General Court in specific areas, while the Court of Justice will retain jurisdiction over questions of principle, like those that involve interpretation of the Treaties or the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The specific areas in which the General Court will be competent over preliminary rulings include:
- the common system of value added tax
- excise duties
- the Customs Code and the tariff classification of goods under the Combined Nomenclature
- the tariff classification of goods under the Combined Nomenclature
- compensation and assistance to passengers in case of delay or cancellation of transport services or denied boarding
- the scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading
On the procedural aspects, the reform provides for a “one-stop-shop” mechanism, under which national judges will continue to address requests for preliminary rulings to the Court of Justice, which will in turn forward to the General Court the questions under its jurisdiction.
The procedural guarantees before the General Court mirror those already applicable at the Court of Justice. In particular, judges of the General Court will be designated to act as Advocates-General to provide an opinion on the preliminary question, and a chamber of intermediate size will be created at the General Court to deal with certain requests for preliminary ruling.
Limiting appeals to the Court of Justice
The reform also extends the filtering mechanism for appeals adopted in 2019 to any EU institutions, agencies, offices and bodies with an independent board of appeal. Under that mechanism, cases that have already been considered twice – by an independent board of appeal and the General Court – will be allowed to proceed before the Court of Justice only if they raise an issue that is significant with respect to the unity, consistency or development of EU law.
This mechanism will also be applied to appeals in cases where the Court of Justice is competent by means of an arbitration clause included in a contract, in which the dispute normally refers to national law. However, when the dispute involves the application of EU law and raises issues significant to the unity, consistency or development of EU law, an appeal will remain possible.
Other measures
The reform also increases the transparency of proceedings on requests for preliminary rulings. Without prejudice to the rules on access to documents laid down in regulation 1049/2001, which remains fully applicable, written submissions of the parties will be made public after the judgment, unless the party concerned objects to such publication. This will increase accountability and strengthen trust in the EU as well as in EU law, to the benefit of citizens and national judges.
Next steps
The provisional agreement reached today will now need to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament. It will then be formally adopted by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision.
Background
The Court of Justice submitted a proposal for amending Protocol No 3 on its Statute in December 2022. The changes were agreed in negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, with the participation of the Court of Justice and the Commission.