The Court of Justice has established new rules on the adoption of appeals for examination in cases which have already been double-examined. Such an appeal shall be accepted in whole or in part only if it concerns a matter relevant to the unity, consistency or development of Union law.
Within the framework of the reform of the judicial structure of the European Union, the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance have taken joint reflections on their competences and examined whether certain changes should be made, in particular as regards the examination of appeals by the Court.
This examination showed that numerous appeals were brought in cases which had already been double-examined, first by the independent Board of Appeal and then by the Court of First Instance, and that many of those appeals were rejected by the Court of Justice on grounds of manifest inadmissibility or remoteness because of manifest unwarrantedness.
In order to enable the Court to concentrate on matters which require its full attention in order to ensure the proper conduct of the proceedings, it was therefore proposed that, with regard to appeals relating to such cases, a procedure be introduced for the preliminary adoption of an appeal for the Court to hear, in whole or in part, only where the appeal raises a question of relevance to the unity, consistency or development of Union law.
The Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union has therefore been amended. [1] and rules of procedure before the Court of Justice [2]. These changes will enter into force on 1 May 2019 [3]
Under the new rules, the appeal brought against the decision of the Court of First Instance concerning an independent Board of Appeal one from the following offices or one The following agencies shall be recognised only in the event of preliminary acceptance by the Court:
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- European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (Alicante, Spain);
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- Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) (Angers, France);
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- European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (Helsinki, Finland);
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European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) (Cologne, Germany).
In those cases, an application for an appeal for recognition of a length not exceeding seven the parties in which the appellant presents in a clear manner the issue relevant to the unity, consistency or development of Union law. In the absence of such a request, the appeal itself will be deemed inadmissible.
Where the application satisfies the prescribed formal requirements, the Court of Justice shall rule on the acceptance or non-application of an appeal to be heard as soon as possible by a reasoned order published on the Court’s website. This decision shall be taken, at the request of the Judge-Rapporteur and after hearing the Advocate-General, by a chamber specially set up for this purpose, chaired by the Vice-President of the Court and composed of the Judge-Rapporteur and the President of the Chamber of third Judges to whom the Judge-Rapporteur is assigned on the date of the application.
The decision to accept an appeal for review shall be served on the other parties brought before the Court of First Instance together with the appeal and, when the appeal is accepted for recognition in part, shall indicate the pleas or parts of the appeal to which the response to the appeal should relate.
In addition, the Registrar of the Court of Justice shall inform the Court of Justice of the decision on the adoption of an appeal and, if they were not a party to the case before the Court of First Instance: Member States, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.
- Article 58a the statutes.
- Title V, Chapter 1a of the Rules of Procedure.
- Official Journal of the European Union L (2019), No. 111, p. 1.