What is and what it does. The Court of Justice (CJEU) was founded in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg. The CJEU interprets EU law to ensure that it is applied in the same way in all Member States

1. THE COURT OF JUSTICE
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
(CJEU)
A FOCUS ON THE CVRIA
March 2018

2. WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES
The Court of Justice is made up of 15 judges and handles requests
submitted by national courts as well as some actions for annulment
and appeals.
It was founded in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg.
The CJEU interprets EU law to ensure that it is applied in the same way
in all Member States by:
enforcing the law (infringement proceedings);
annulling EU legal acts (actions for annulment);
ensuring the EU takes action (actions for failure to act).
Even private individuals, companies or organisations can take legal
action against an EU institution in the CJEU when they think their rights
have been violated.

3. THE CJEU IS DIFFERENT FROM THE GENERAL COURT
The General Court of the European Union (GCEU), also a body of the
Court of Justice, rules on actions for annulment brought by individuals,
companies and, in some cases, EU governments, and deals mainly
with competition law, State aid, trade, agriculture and trade marks.
Judges and Advocates general are appointed by the national
Governments for a renewable 6-year term.
The President serves a renewable 3-year term.

4. INFRINGEMENT PROCEDURE
INITIAL STAGE
The European Commission may bring an action against a Member
State that is not in compliance with EU law upon:
receiving a complaint from an individual;
European Parliament questions;
its own initiative.
The EC sends a letter of formal notice that gives the State two months
to submit its remarks.
If the EC is not satisfied with its reply, it sends a reasoned opinion.
If the Member State still fails to comply, the EC may refer the MS to
the Court of Justice. If the Court finds that the State has breached EU
law, the national authorities must take action to comply with the Court
judgment. If the State continues not to comply, the Court may impose
financial penalties, for an amount proposed by EC which is calculated
according to the importance and period of incompliance.

5. Cases, which are assigned to a judge and an advocate general, are
processed in two stages.
WRITTEN STAGE. The parties submit written statements to the Court
that are summarised by a judge-rapporteur and then discussed during
the general meeting of the Court, which decides:
how many judges will be handling the case: 3, 5 or 15 depending on
the importance and complexity of the case. Most cases are handled
by 5;
whether a hearing (oral stage) needs to be held and whether an
official opinion from the advocate general is required.
ORAL STAGE: THE PUBLIC HEARING. Lawyers from both sides are
heard by the judges and the advocate general. In the end, the judges
deliberate and issue their verdict.
How long does it take to get a verdict? In infringement cases, for
instance, it is usually issued after about 10 months.
HOW THE COURT OF JUSTICE DECIDES

6. A FEW LANDMARK DECISIONS
March 2017. Islamic headscarves may
be banned in the workplace
The Court ruled that “An internal
rule of an undertaking which prohibits
the visible wearing of any political,
philosophical or religious sign does
not constitute direct discrimination”.
December 2017. Uber Stopped
This Court’s decision defines Uber as
a transportation service.
Therefore,itissubjecttotheregulations
of the individual Member States.
December 1995.
The story of Calciomercato
The Bosman ruling approved
thefreemovementofworkers/
players within the common
market upon expiry of their
contracts.
Thanks to the Bosman ruling
a ceiling was placed on the
number of non-EU players in
each team.

7. In the last 10 years, the Court has delivered 94 infringement rulings
due to Italy’s lack of compliance with EU law.
The judges have agreed with the EU Commission 85 times, whereas
Italy has only come out on top in 9 cases. 74 of these judgements were
issued between 2007 and 2011.
This number has dropped sharply since 2012 because of the launch
of EU Pilot, an informal dialogue between the EC and the Member
State before starting an infringement procedure.
In 492 cases Italian judges have asked the CJEU for its ‘preliminary
opinion’ (binding) on the interpretation of EU law.
This is an exorbitantly high number if you think that it represents 12%
of the total requests.
ITALY AND THE COURT OF JUSTICE:
FROM 2007 TO TODAY

8. PENDING CASES OF INFRINGEMENT
Italy currently has 7 pending
cases and 6 rulings, which
Italy has not complied with,
4 of which have entailed
financial penalties.
The last lawsuit that ended
up at the Court regarded
the lenghty amount of time
required for the Italian
public administration to pay
companies.
The European Commission referred
Italy to the Court of Justice Court of
Justice in violation of the EU Directive
2011/7/EU on late payments.

9. Negotiations got mired because of this very issue. It was only after May’s
speech in Florence that they started up again.
On 8 December 2017 the Joint Report between the EU and UK
‘acknowledges the role of the CJEU as the ultimate arbiter of the
interpretation of Union law’.
The British courts will be the ones to decide in cases brought by EU
citizens regarding the protection of their rights, but their decisions will be
based on CJEU case-law. British judges will also be able to ask the
CJEU questions of interpretation “within 8 years” from the entry into
force of the Brexit agreement.
BREXIT: MAY GIVES WAY TO THE COURT
What happens if, after Brexit, an EU citizen who
is a resident in UK feels his or her rights have
been infringed and enters into a dispute with the
British State?

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