1. Balázs Lehóczki Service Press & Information Court of Justice of the EU
Harmonising clarity and accuracy in the communication of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Balázs Lehóczki
Service Press & Information
Court of Justice of the EU

2. Communication of the Court – Target public
Journalists (General public)
Legal professionals

3. Communication with journalists – Their needs
Quick, concise and legible information
Information on background and impacts
Minor inaccuracies are tolerable

4. Communication with legal professionals – Their needs
Thorough and legally solid summary of ruling
References to quoted sections of judgment
Inaccuracies are not acceptable

5. Our major communications tool: The press release
Unofficial document with however approved content
Our only communications product on new rulings that is published on our website
Designed for satisfying needs of both journalists and lawyers

6. Clarity in press releases: the drafting
Avoid using unnecessary legal terminology
Translate the ruling into a layman’s language
Be as concise as possible and do not use lengthy sentences
Simplify your language (avoid using passive sentences, etc.)

7. Clarity in press releases: the drafting
Tell the story in your heading
Do not write more than two pages
Be dynamic, tell a story with only a limited number of references to legal background
Identify the problem and find a solution

8. Clarity in press releases: the linguistic control
Ensures respect of drafting rules
Eliminates grammatical and orthographic errors
Improves style

9. Clarity in press releases: the journalistic control
Ensures that the text is ready for publishing as a piece of news
Checks adequacy of headings
Eliminates redundant parts from text
Removes unnecessary legal terminology from text

10. Accuracy in press releases: the internal legal control
Comparison of text with judgment
Making sure that all information in press release comes from judgment
Detection of inaccuracies in text
Weighing of content from a legal point of view

11. Accuracy in press releases: the external legal control
Judges verify if the text actually conveys the message they want to send by their decision
Drawing our attention to ambiguous parts in text which are due to lack of unanimity at deliberation
Correcting inaccuracies, removing unnecessary and adding missing information

12. Accuracy in press releases: the external legal control
Judges’ intervention might result in the text partly losing its communicative value:
Not understandable or not relevant headings (see press release Schrems)
Lengthy sentences and excessive use of legal terminology
Useless references to legal acts
Decrease of coherence of text

13. Grasping the problem
The Court also simplifies questions from national judges
We can quote in press release information from judgment in a different order than how it appears in ruling
We never speak about the AG’s Opinion in a press release on judgment

14. Information on procedure and impacts
What is a reference for a preliminary ruling?
Can the ruling be appealed?
What is the role of a General Advocate?
Consequences of judgments explained in the main text of press release (see press release Schrems)

15. Explanatory documents to accompany a press release
On different procedures (e.g. expedited procedure, sanctions procedures against Member States)
On different areas of case-law (protection of airline passengers or borrowers of credit)

16. Our Twitter accounts Official way of communication
Our tweets are derived from titles of press releases
They convey our main message without focusing on hows and whys
Minor inaccuracies are tolerable
Are not approved by judges

17. Thank you for your attention!