Session 9 : The EU’s Judicial Architecture

Question 1

What does the 1 state 1 judge convention enable?

Answer 1

The ‘one State, one judge’ convention → all the legal traditions of the memher states can be represented in the court

Question 2

How many advocate general are there?

Answer 2

11

Question 3

How many judges are there in the general court?

Answer 3

Since 1 September 2019: 2 judges by MS

Question 4

What is an Advocate General?

Answer 4

The role of the Advocate General is to make, in open court, impartial and independent submissions on any case brought before the Court. She acts not as a legal representative of one of the parties, but as a legal representative of the public interest.

Question 5

What can the court adjudicate on?

Answer 5

Per article 19 of the TEU :
Rule on direct action brought by a State, institutional, natural or legal person
give preliminary rulings, at the request of courts or tribunals of the Member States, on the interpretation of Union law or the validity of acts adopted by the institutions
Cases provided by the treaties

Question 6

Which case evokes this judicial review capacity of the Court?

Answer 6

Case 294/83, Les Verts [1986] : the Treaty established a complete system of legal remedies and procedures designed to permit the Court of Justice to review the legality of measures adopted by the institutions

Question 7

What are the main direct actions?

Answer 7

Infringement proceedings

Actions for annulment

Question 8

When does an infringement procedure occur?

Answer 8

When there’s a MS failure to fulfil an obligation under the treaties

Question 9

Who can take an initiative on infringement proceedings?

Answer 9

The Commission and sometimes Member States

Question 10

What is the goal of an infringement procedure?

Answer 10

to secure the rule of EU law;
as a public policy instrument to contribute to the effective functioning of EU policies; and
as a public law arena, in which the different interests of the EU institutions, Member States, complainants and are mediated

Question 11

What are the effects of an infringement procedure?

Answer 11

Under article 260, required to comply with the decision, or pay a penalty or lump sum

Question 12

What is an action fo annulment?

Answer 12

The Court can review the legality of acts intended to provide legal effects from an institution, or an EU body.

Question 13

What are the admissibility conditions for annulment?

Answer 13

Time limit (2 months)
Reviewable acts
Standing

Question 14

What is a reviewable act?

Answer 14

‘tis an act that fulfils a
substantive criterion : legally binding, intended to provide legal effect,
The author has to be all measures adopted by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union, whatever their nature or form, provided that they are intended to produce legal effects

Question 15

Which case is important on matter of annulment?

Answer 15

Case T-192/96, NF v European Council [2017] provided that they are intended to produce legal effects

Question 16

What is privileged applicant?

Answer 16

The European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and Member States = have a general power to seek judicial review against acts of the EU institutions. This grants them general, unrestrained policing powers against the EU institutions, subject to the observance of the time limits set out in the final paragraph of Article 263 TFEU. as they represent an important public interest

Question 17

What is a partially privileged applicant?

Answer 17

Can act only for the protection of their prerogatives : ECB, Court of Auditors, the Committee of Regions

Question 18

What is a non-privileged applicant?

Answer 18

(Natural and legal persons)

Question 19

What kind of actions can non-privileged applicants bring forward?

Answer 19

They may bring an action:
against an act addressed to them,
against an act not addressed to them, but that is of direct and individual concern to them, or
against a regulatory act that is of direct concern to them and does not entail implementing measures (novelty of the Lisbon treaty)

Question 20

Define direct concern

Answer 20

when there is a direct causal relationship between the act in question and the effect that it has on the applicant (Joined Cases 41–44/70 International Fruit Co v Commission [1971])

Question 21

Define individual concern

Answer 21

an act affects a category of persons ‘by reason of certain attributes that are peculiar to them or by reason of circumstances in which they are differentiated from all other persons and by virtue of these factors distinguishes them individually just as in the case of the person addressed’ (Case 25/62 Plaumann v Commission [1962])

Question 22

What is a regulatory act?

Answer 22

an act of general application which has not been adopted in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure or the special legislative procedure within the meaning of paragraphs 1 to 3 of Article 289 TFEU (see Case C-583/11 P Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and others v European Parliament and Council [2013])

Question 23

What are the grounds for annulment?

Answer 23

External legality
lack of competence
infringement of an essential procedural requirement
See the example of the Roquette Frères judgment
Internal legality
infringement of the Treaties or of any rule of law relating to the application of the Treaties
misuse of powers

Question 24

Obligation to comply case?

Answer 24

CJEU, 4 October 2018, Commission v France, Case C-416/17
Obligation to comply is ​​binding on all their authorities, Thus, a Member State’s failure to fulfil obligations may, in principle, be established under Article 258 TFEU whatever the agency of that State whose action or inaction is the cause of the failure to fulfil its obligations, even in the case of a constitutionally independent institution