1. Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
Article 19 TEU; Articles TFEU

2. General remarks
Role: Ensuring EU law is interpreted and applied the same in every EU country; ensuring countries and EU institutions abide by EU law. Members: Court of Justice: 1 judge from each EU country, plus 11 advocates general; General Court: 47 judges. In 2019 this will be increased to 56 (2 judges from each EU country). Established in: 1952; Location: Luxembourg.

3. General remarks
The Court of Justice of the European Union is the judicial institution of the European Union and of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). It is made up of two courts: the Court of Justice and the General Court. Their primary task is to examine the legality of EU measures and ensure the uniform interpretation and application of EU law.

4. General remarks
Originally the Court of Justice of the European Communities was the only Court of the European Communities.
In 1987 a Court of First Instance was attached to it to hear cases for certain kinds of legal disputes.
The Treaty of Nice(2001) introduced a three level court system consisting of: the Court of Justice; the Court of First Instance and judicial panels.

5. General remarks
Since the Lisbon Treaty - Article 19(1) TEU: The Court of Justice of the European Union includes the Court of Justice, the General Court and specialised courts.

6. General remarks
The task of the CJEU is „to ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed”.
This general provision guaranteeing the unity of law and the equal application of Union law all over the Union.

7. General remarks
Through its case-law, the Court of Justice has identified an obligation on administrations and national courts to apply EU law in full within their sphere of competence and to protect the rights conferred on citizens by that law (direct application of EU law), and to disapply any conflicting national provision, whether prior or subsequent to the EU provision (primacy of EU law over national law).

8. General remarks
The Court has also recognised the principle of the liability of Member States for breach of EU law which, first, plays an important part in consolidating the protection of the rights conferred on individuals by EU provisions and, secondly, may contribute to more diligent application of EU provisions by Member States. Infringements committed by Member States are thus likely to give rise to obligations to pay compensation which may, in some cases, have serious repercussions on their public funds.

9. General remarks
The Court of Justice also works in conjunction with the national courts, which are the ordinary courts applying EU law. Any national court or tribunal which is called upon to decide a dispute involving EU law may, and sometimes must, submit questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. The Court must then give its interpretation or review the legality of a rule of EU law.

10. What does the CJEU do? Article 19(3) TEU:
The Court of Justice of the European Union shall, in accordance with the Treaties:
rule on actions brought by a Member State, an institution or a 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;
rule in other cases provided for in the Treaties.

11. What does the CJEU do?
The procedures provided for in the Treaties in fact enable the CJEU to carry out a four-fold task.
The CJEU decides:
disputes between the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU;
disputes between the EU and its Member States;
disputes between the Member States
disputes between natural or legal persons and the EU.

12. What does the CJEU do?
The CJEU gives rulings on cases brought before it. The most common types of case are: interpreting the law (preliminary rulings) – national courts of EU countries are required to ensure EU law is properly applied, but courts in different countries might interpret it differently. If a national court is in doubt about the interpretation or validity of an EU law, it can ask the Court for clarification. The same mechanism can be used to determine whether a national law or practice is compatible with EU law.

13. What does the CJEU do?
enforcing the law (infringement proceedings) – this type of case is taken against a national government for failing to comply with EU law. Can be started by the European Commission or another EU country. If the country is found to be at fault, it must put things right at once, or risk a second case being brought, which may result in a fine.

14. What does the CJEU do?
annulling EU legal acts (actions for annulment) – if an EU act is believed to violate EU treaties or fundamental rights, the Court can be asked to annul it – by an EU government, the Council of the EU, the European Commission or (in some cases) the European Parliament. Private individuals can also ask the Court to annul an EU act that directly concerns them.

15. What does the CJEU do?
ensuring the EU takes action (actions for failure to act) – the Parliament, Council and Commission must make certain decisions under certain circumstances. If they don't, EU governments, other EU institutions or (under certain conditions) individuals or companies can complain to the Court.

16. What does the CJEU do?
sanctioning EU institutions (actions for damages) – any person or company who has had their interests harmed as a result of the action or inaction of the EU or its staff can take action against them through the Court.

17. What does the CJEU do? The CJEU is divided into 2 courts:
Court of Justice – deals with requests for preliminary rulings from national courts, certain actions for annulment and appeals.
General Court – rules on actions for annulment brought by individuals, companies and, in some cases, EU governments. In practice, this means that this court deals mainly with competition law, State aid, trade, agriculture, trade marks.

18. Composition- Court of Justice
It is composed of 28 Judges and 11 Advocates General.
The Judges and Advocates General are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States after consultation of a panel responsible for giving an opinion on prospective candidates' suitability to perform the duties concerned.

19. Composition- Court of Justice
They are appointed for a term of office of six years, which is renewable.
They are chosen from among individuals whose independence is beyond doubt and who possess the qualifications required for appointment, in their respective countries, to the highest judicial offices, or who are of recognised competence.

20. Composition- Court of Justice
The Judges of the Court of Justice elect from amongst themselves a President and a Vice-President for a renewable term of three years.
The President directs the work of the Court and presides at hearings and deliberations of the full Court or the Grand Chamber. The Vice-President assists the President in the exercise of his duties and takes his place when necessary.

21. Composition- Court of Justice
Article 252 TFEU:
The Court of Justice shall be assisted by eight Advocates-General. Should the Court of Justice so request, the Council, acting unanimously, may increase the number of Advocates-General.
It shall be the duty of the Advocate-General, acting with complete impartiality and independence, to make, in open court, reasoned submissions on cases which, in accordance with the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, require his involvement.

22. Composition- Court of Justice
The Advocates General (AG) assist the Court.
An AG acts as independent representative od the EU’s interest.
They are responsible for presenting, with complete impartiality and independence, an ‘opinion' in the cases assigned to them.

23. Composition- Court of Justice
The main duty of the AG in any procedure before the Court of Justice is to make reasoned submissions at the end of the oral proceedings od the Court’s cases, the so-called „opinions”.
The Court may, after hearing the Opinion, decide to determine a case without submission if it considers that the case does not raise new points of law.

24. Composition- Court of Justice
The purpose of the Opinion is to support the Court in its task to observe the interpretation and application of the Treaties. For that reasons the Opinions are completely impartial and independent.
As Opinions are deeply reasoned, the AG provides a non-binding but extensive pre-examination of the issue.

25. Composition- Court of Justice
The Court may sit as a full court, in a Grand Chamber of 15 Judges or in Chambers of three or five Judges.
The Court sits as a full court in the particular cases prescribed by the Statute of the Court (including proceedings to dismiss the European Ombudsman or a Member of the European Commission who has failed to fulfil his or her obligations) and where the Court considers that a case is of exceptional importance.

26. Composition- Court of Justice
It sits in a Grand Chamber when a Member State or an institution which is a party to the proceedings so requests, and in particularly complex or important cases.
Other cases are heard by Chambers of three or five Judges. The Presidents of the Chambers of five Judges are elected for three years, and those of the Chambers of three Judges for one year.

27. Composition- General Court
The General Court is made up of at least one judge from each Member State (46 judges in office as of October 8, 2018).
The judges are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States after consultation of a panel responsible for giving an opinion on candidates' suitability to perform the duties of Judge. Their term of office is six years, and is renewable.

28. Composition- General Court
The Judges appoint their President, for a period of three years, from amongst themselves. They appoint a Registrar for a term of office of six years.
The Judges perform their duties in a totally impartial and independent manner.
Unlike the Court of Justice, the General Court does not have permanent Advocates General. However, that task may, in exceptional circumstances, be carried out by a Judge.

29. Composition- General Court
Cases before the General Court are heard by Chambers of five or three Judges or, in some cases, as a single Judge. It may also sit as a Grand Chamber (fifteen Judges) when this is justified by the legal complexity or importance of the case.
The Presidents of the Chambers of five Judges are elected from amongst the Judges for a period of three years.

30. Jurisdiction- General Court
The General Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine:
actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union (which are addressed to them or are of direct and individual concern to them) and against regulatory acts (which concern them directly and which do not entail implementing measures) or against a failure to act on the part of those institutions, bodies, offices or agencies; for example, a case brought by a company against a Commission decision imposing a fine on that company;

31. Jurisdiction- General Court
actions brought by the Member States against the Commission;
actions brought by the Member States against the Council relating to acts adopted in the field of State aid, trade protection measures (dumping) and acts by which it exercises implementing powers;
actions seeking compensation for damage caused by the institutions or the bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union or their staff;

32. Jurisdiction- General Court
actions based on contracts made by the European Union which expressly give jurisdiction to the General Court;
actions relating to intellectual property brought against the European Union Intellectual Property Office and against the Community Plant Variety Office;
disputes between the institutions of the European Union and their staff concerning employment relations and the social security system.

33. How does the CJEU work?
In the Court of Justice, each case is assigned 1 judge (the "judge-rapporteur") and 1 advocate general. Cases are processed in 2 stages:
Written stage:
The parties give written statements to the Court - and observations can also be submitted by national authorities, EU institutions and sometimes private individuals.

34. How does the CJEU work?
All of this is summarised by the judge-rapporteur and then discussed at the Court's general meeting, which decides:
How many judges will deal with the case: 3, 5 or 15 judges (the whole Court), depending on the importance and complexity of the case. Most cases are dealt with by 5 judges, and it is very rare for the whole Court to hear the case.
Whether a hearing (oral stage) needs to be held and whether an official opinion from the AG is necessary.

35. How does the CJEU work?
Oral stage – a public hearing: When it has been decided that an oral hearing will be held, the case is argued at a public hearing, before the bench and the AG. The Judges and the AG may put to the parties any questions they consider appropriate. Some weeks later, the AG delivers his or her Opinion before the Court of Justice, again in open court.

36. How does the CJEU work?
He/she analyses in detail the legal aspects of the case and suggests completely independently to the Court of Justice the response which he or she considers should be given to the problem raised. This marks the end of the oral stage of the proceedings. If it is decided that the case raises no new question of law, the Court may decide, after hearing the AG, to give judgment without an Opinion.

37. How does the CJEU work?
The Judges deliberate on the basis of a draft judgment drawn up by the Judge-Rapporteur. Each Judge of the formation concerned may propose changes. Decisions of the Court of Justice are taken by majority and no record is made public of any dissenting opinions. Only the Judges present during the oral deliberations in the course of which the judgment is adopted sign the judgment, without prejudice to the rule that the most junior judge in the formation does not sign the judgment if that formation is even in number. Judgments are pronounced in open court.

38. How does the CJEU work?
General Court procedure is similar, except that most cases are heard by 3 judges and there are no AG.

39. Fundamental principles established by case-law
In its case-law (starting with Van Gend & Loos in 1963), the Court introduced the principle of the direct effect of Community law in the Member States, which now enables European citizens to rely directly on rules of European Union law before their national courts.

40. Fundamental principles established by case-law
In 1964, the Costa judgment established the primacy of Community law over domestic law. In that case, an Italian court had asked the Court of Justice whether the Italian law on nationalisation of the production and distribution of electrical energy was compatible with certain rules in the EEC Treaty. The Court introduced the doctrine of the primacy of Community law, basing it on the specific nature of the Community legal order, which is to be uniformly applied in all the Member States.

41. Fundamental principles established by case-law
In 1991, in Francovich and Others, the Court developed another fundamental concept, the liability of a Member State to individuals for damage caused to them by a breach of Community law by that State. Since 1991, European citizens have therefore been able to bring an action for damages against a State which infringes a Community rule.

42. The costs of proceedings
There are no court fees for proceedings before the Court of Justice. On the other hand, the Court does not meet the fees and expenses of the lawyer entitled to practice before a court of a Member State by whom the parties must be represented. However, a party unable to meet all or part of the costs of the proceedings may, without having to instruct a lawyer, apply for legal aid. The application must be accompanied by all necessary evidence establishing the need for legal aid.

43. Language arrangements
In direct actions, the language used in the application (which may be one of the 24 official languages of the European Union) will, in principle, be the ‘language of the case’, that is to say the language in which the proceedings will be conducted. In appeals, the language of the case is that of the judgment or order of the General Court which is under appeal. With references for preliminary rulings, the language of the case is that of the national court which made the reference to the Court of Justice. Oral proceedings at hearings are interpreted simultaneously, as required, into various official languages of the European Union. The Judges deliberate, without interpreters, in a common language which, traditionally, is French.