European Courts
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Court of First Instance (CFI) and thespecialised judicial panels constitute the judicial branch of the European Community. TheTreaty of Niece (TN) amended the division of function between the ECJ and CFI. The ECJor simply the Court ensures that Community law is uniformly interpreted and effectivelyapplied. It has jurisdiction in disputes involving Member States, EU institutions,legal persons and individuals. The Court gives rulings on all cases brought before it. Thefour most common types of cases are:
1. References for a preliminary ruling;
2. Actions for failure to fulfil an obligation;
3. Actions for Annulment;
4. Actions for failure to act;
The Court comprises one judge per Member State and is aided by Advocates-Generalwhose role is to present publicly and impartially reasoned opinions on the cases broughtbefore the Court.The judges and advocates-general are appointed by common accord ofthe Governments of the Member States for a renewable term of six years and can bepartially reappointed every three years. The seat of the Court of Justice is in Luxembourg.The Court of First Instance was created in 1989 and is responsible for giving rulings oncertain kinds of cases, particularly actions brought by private individuals, companies andsome organisations, and cases related to competition law. Each of the two courts has aPresident appointed for a term of three years.
First Page
The European Courts have, as any court, the function to make sure that the EU law is applied in the same way in every EU countries. Their jurisdiction, therefore, extends to every EU member. In particular, in the case of the ECJ, the main functions are that of claryifing the interpretation or validity of an EU law, that of pushing for the implementation of a EU law in one of the member countries, that of declaring null and void a EU law (under certain circumstances), that of pushing the Parliament, the Council and the Commission for making certain decisions and, in general, that of trying legal cases between individuals or companies and the staff of the Community. Specialised courts are responsible for examining at first instance claims lodged in certain specific areas.