The Legal Service of the European Commission His Excellency Mr Bruno Julien

2 Human Resources Chart

3 The Legal Service: Characteristics Internal and horizontal Service Directly under the President’s authority Mission is twofold: 1.Legal advise 2.Legal representative of the Commission

4 The Legal Service: Legal Advice –The LS gives its opinions on all draft proposals (about opinions in 2005). –A positive opinion is necessary for the adoption of a Commission decision. –The « College » may not take into account the LS opinion (political reasons). –A negative opinion will push the Directorates general to find a solution. –As a general rule, the legal advice is not made public.

5 The Legal Service: Functions 2.Legal representative of the Commission: The LS is the only entity authorized to represent the Commission before the Community Courts (Court of Justice, Court of First Instance, Civil Service Tribunal) and the national and international Courts (World Trade Organisation).

920 new cases 468 before the Court of Justice, – 218 preliminary rulings – 66 appeals 447 before the Court of First Instance (70 cases transferred to the Civil Service Tribunal) 5 EFTA cases 1950 pending cases (average) Global number of cases in 2005

7 Won / Lost – Global STATISTICS PRODUCED BY THE LS LITIGATION DATABASE: JUDGEMENT IN 2005/COMMISSION LITIGANT COURT OF JUSTICE =402 AFF., CFI = 128 AFF. COURT OF JUSTICECFI 83 % WON 7% LOST 4 % OTHER 6 % PARTIALLY WON 20 % LOST 74 % WON 6 % PARTIALLY WON

8 Infringements of Community Law by Member States

9 Pending infringements at 31/12/2005 by area

10 Litigation WTO (Dispute Settlement)  Pending cases44  Commission as complaining party 15  Commission as responding party 19  Commission as third party 10  New cases registered in  Reports during

11 Number of cases initiated / defended by Member State Complaining Responding

12 WTO Cases involving EC OFFENSIVE CASESDEFENSIVE CASES SOLVED WITHOUT PANEL RULING EC LOSTEC WON