Preliminary References To The European Court Of Justice

This book provides a detailed examination of the law and practice of the preliminary reference procedure in EU law. It is designed to be of practical use in litigation and case preparation.

Analysis of the Court of Justice's practice, and the book is extensively referenced throughout with all the most relevant sources reproduced in the annexes. Readership: Advocates, Judges, and legal academics with an interest in EU law.

A fully revised and updated third edition, this book details the form, contents, and procedures for preliminary references. Written for both practitioners and academics, this is an essential guidebook covering all aspects of preliminary references.

The preliminary reference procedure under Article 267 TFEU is the keystone of the EU judicial system and its legal order. Based on a dialogue between the Court of Justice and national courts, it is strictly linked to the protection of the rights that individuals derive from EU law. This book focuses on this procedure from the perspective of the right to effective judicial protection, in light of Article 19(1), second subparagraph, TEU and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. It explores the level of protection that is ensured to individuals in order to access to the Court of Justice through preliminary references on the validity of EU acts and on the interpretation of EU law. The book offers a threefold perspective on preliminary references, through an analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice itself, of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Article 6(1) ECHR, and of the constitutional courts of Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, where the national courts’ refusals to refer can lead to the violation of national constitutional rights. It further investigates the obligations for Member States and national courts in the framework of the preliminary reference procedure and how the right to effective judicial protection affects them. The examination outlines the implications that could flow from the recognition of a right for individuals to have a question referred to the ECJ, as part of the right to effective judicial protection under EU law, in particular its nature and its enforcement. Building upon the existing system of sanctions for the violations of the obligation to submit a preliminary question, the book advances some proposals to rethink the current system of remedies.

This innovative book examines why national courts refer preliminary references to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and what the referring court does with the answers. Jasper Krommendijk highlights the three core stages in the interaction between national courts and the ECJ: question, answer and follow-up, shedding new light on this under-explored area.

This fully updated and revised 3rd edition of Preliminary References to the European Court of Justice provides a meticulous and yet easily accessible examination of all aspects of the preliminary reference procedure. A reference for a preliminary ruling is a request from a national court of an EU Member State to the European Court of Justice to give an authoritative interpretation on an EU act or a decision on the validity of such an act. Preliminary rulings have played a pivotal role in the development of the European Union. The European Union's preliminary reference procedure has been copied by several other international organisations - including not least the European Economic Area (EEA) and the EFTA Court. Since the second edition, the European Court of Justice has rendered a considerable number of rulings which have led to important changes to the book. This is particularly reflected in the treatment of the Court's acte clair doctrine, of preliminary references from administrative appeal boards and arbitration tribunals and of preliminary references regarding international agreements. And it is reflected in the interaction between the preliminary reference procedure and the European Convention on Human Rights as well as in a more general revision of the text bringing it up to date by taking into account new case law and new legal writings. With backgrounds as both practitioners and academics the two authors have produced a book that caters for the needs of both practitioners and academics.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has played a vital role in promoting the process of European integration. In recent years, however, the expansion of EU law has led it to impact ever more politically sensitive issues, and controversial ECJ judgments have elicited unprecedented levels of criticism. Can we expect the Court to sustain its role as a motor of deeper integration without Member States or other countervailing forces intervening? To answer this question, we need to revisit established explanations of the Court’s power to see if they remain viable in the Court’s contemporary environment. We also need to better understand the ultimate limits of the Court’s power – the means through which and extent to which national governments, national courts, litigants and the Court’s other interlocutors attempt to influence the Court and to limit the impact of its rulings. In this book, leading scholars of European law and politics investigate how the ECJ has continued to support deeper integration and whether the EU is experiencing an increase in countervailing forces that may diminish the Court’s ability or willingness to act as a motor of integration. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Article 234 EC ensures that a divergent application of the EC Treaty or of the statutes and acts of its institutions is not allowed in any Member State. Unsurprisingly, its pivotal importance has given rise to a huge number of ECJ judgments and orders - about 700 by the beginning of 2009. Very often, a practitioner needs to establish whether the preliminary ruling procedure called for by Article 234 EC is required in a particular case being pursued in a national court, and any relevant ECJ ruling or order must be located. Herein lies the great value of this book. Dr Barents' very useful volume sorts paragraphs of the 700 judgments and orders by subject, making it easy to establish the relevance of a particular Community court ruling to a particular national court proceeding. In this book paragraphs of the judgments and orders are presented in the form of extracts sorted by subject. The subject headings are arranged according to a hierarchical system, descending from such overarching concepts as scope and participation to such precise categories as the following: situations outside the scope of community law; bodies not considered to be courts or tribunals; arbitration; third persons; rights of participants; formulation of preliminary questions; presumption of relevance of a preliminary reference; violation of the obligation to refer; requirement of a pending dispute; interim measures; modification of preliminary questions; questions rejected by the submitting court; new elements presented during the preliminary procedure; questions lacking precision; retroactive effects of judgments. Paragraphs of judgments relating to more than one subject are included under each relevant heading, where necessary accompanied by cross references to other headings. Under each extract or summary, the judgments and orders are referred to by case number in ascending order. The articles of the EC Treaty are cited according to the new method of citation pursuant to the renumbering of the articles of that treaty brought about by the Treaty of Amsterdam. There is no doubt that the book's technique of presenting case law in the form of separate extracts and summaries arranged by topic and sub-topic improves the accessibility of the material. This very practical, time-saving feature will be greatly appreciated by practitioners throughout Europe. This is a reference every European lawyer will want to have on hand.