Essay: The European Court of Justice

The EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE is the authority of the EU and it ensures the application and uniform interpretation of EU law, working side by side with the national courts an tribunals.
Also the COURT has the power to settle legal disputes between Member States,EU institutions,businesses and individuals.
In particular the mission of the European Court of Justice is to:
1) Review the legality of the acts of the institution of th European Union
2) Ensure that the Member States comply with their obligations under the EU law
3) Interpret EU law at the request of the national courts and tribunals of the Member States.
The European Court of Justice seats in Luxembourg and it is composed of three judicial institutions:
-the Court of Justice
-the Court of First Instance
-the Civil Service Tribunal
The European Court of Justice as a whole has jurisdiction in various specific matters, conferred on it by the Treaties. It can impose pecuniary penalties on Member states who disobey EU law.
The role of the European Court of Justice in the promotion and empowerment of the EU law has been crucial, because the jurisprudence of the Court has frequently clarified the meaning of the EU provisions to the benefit of its uniform interpretation and application, and has established and defined this way – alongside the courts of the Member States – numbers of principles of EU law which bind institutions and Member States, making these principles and the uniform interpretation of EU law prevail over the national colliding provisions.
The Court is composed of one judge per Member State ― now they are 28 ― although it hears cases in panels of three, five or fifteen judges (plenary session). The judges are appointed for a renewable period of six years. The treaties require that they are chosen from legal experts whose independence is “beyond doubt” and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries or who are of recognised competence. To ensure the respect of these standards, the appointment of the judge from one Member State must be approved by the representatives of any other Member States.
The Court is assisted by 8 Advocates General, who are responsible for presenting a legal opinion on the cases assigned to the Court.
They can question the parties involved and then give their opinion on a legal solution to the case before the decision of the Court. The Advocates General provides for independent and impartial opinions to the Court.
The Court’s competence involves decisions on annulment or failure to act brought by a Member State or an institution, actions against Member States for failure to fulfill their obligations, references for a preliminary ruling and appeals against decisions of the Court of First Instance.
The ECJ upholds the Treaties and ensures that European law is interpreted and applied in the same way across the EU through various forms of legal action. These include:
* Preliminary rulings. To avoid differences of interpretation of EU law by national courts, the preliminary ruling procedure allows co-operation between national courts and the ECJ. If a case comes before a national court that involves an interpretation of an EU law and there is a doubt as to how it should be interpreted, the national court will refer the question to the ECJ to decide. The ECJ will make a decision as to how the law should be interpreted or applied and will send that decision to the national court. The national court must then apply that decision to the case before it.
* Proceedings for failure to fulfill an obligation. The Commission or a member state may commence proceedings at the ECJ to force a member state to comply with EU law. If the ECJ decides that the member state in question is at fault, the member state must rectify the situation without delay.
* Proceedings for annulment. A member state, the Commission, the Council of the European Union or the European Parliament may request the annulment or cancellation of an EU law. This may happen if an EU institution enacts a law that conflicts with the EU Treaties. If the ECJ agrees that the disputed law is contrary to the Treaties, it will declare the law null and void. Private individuals may also bring proceedings for annulment of an EU law if they can demonstrate that the disputed law affects them directly and individually. To bring proceedings for annulment, you should obtain legal advice and/or representation. You do not need to go through the national courts first in order to bring proceedings for annulment in the ECJ. If you lose the case at the ECJ, you may be liable to pay the costs of both sides. If you succeed, your costs will be paid by the EU and the law will be declared null and void throughout the EU.
European Court of Justice and relations with other institutions, the first is Court of First Instance (European General Court)
Composition and appointing procedures of the judges of the Court of First Instance are the same of the Court of Justice, but there are no Advocates General, unlike the Court of Justice. However, the role of Advocate General may be played in a limited number of cases by an appointed Judge (occasionally).
The Court of First Instance has jurisdiction to hear and determine at first instance all the direct actions that individuals and Member States can bring to the European Court of Justice, with the exception of some specific claims reserved to the competence of the Court of Justice.
The decisions of the Court of First Instance can be appealed to the Court of Justice on matter of law. That means that a decision of the Court of First Instance can be questioned only when the appeal is based on supposed miscomprehension or misapplication of the EU law from the Court of First Instance, and not when the appeal is based on alleged miscomprehension of the facts or of the proves.