The limits of the court of justice of the european union's jurisdiction to answer preliminary references

• Author: Iuliana-M?d?lina Larion
• Position: Judge at the Bucharest County Court and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, 'Nicolae Titulescu' University, Bucharest (e-mail: madalinalarion@gmail.com).
• Pages: 101-110

LESIJ NO. XXIII, VOL. 1/2016

THE LIMITS OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN

UNION’S JURISDICTION TO ANSWER PRELIMINARY

REFERENCES

Iuliana-Mdlina LARION

Abstract

Starting from a concise analysis of the Court of Justice’s jurisdiction in the matter of preliminary

references ra tione materiae, r atione persona e, ratione loci a nd ratione temporis, the study intends to

highlight what preliminar y questions this interna tional court can a nd cannot answer and haw far ca n

its rulings rea ch into the national law of the member states of the Europea n Union.

Keywords: ar ticle 267 of the Treaty on th e Functioning of the Euro pean Union, preliminar y

question/reference, preliminar y ruling/judgment, court of a member state, jur isdiction limits.

1. Introductory notes

The jurisdiction of the Court of Justice

of the European Union

1

is established,

mainly, by article 19 of the Treaty on the

European Union (TEU), by articles 256,

258-277 of the Treaty on the Functioning of

the European Union (TFEU) and by its

Statute

2

. The European Court can only ac t

within the limits of the competence

conferred upon it by the member states in the

treaties establishing the European Union.

The Treaties provide two main roles

for the Court of Justice of the Europ ean

Union: an advisory one, to render oppinions

and a jurisdictional one, to give preliminary

rulings and judgments in d irect actions.

Whereas the preliminary ruling procedure is

a noncontencious one

3

, direct actions, such

 Judge at the Bucharest County Court and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, “Nicolae Titulescu” University,

Bucharest (e-mail: madalinalarion@gmail.com).

1

The Court of Justice of the European Union is a system composed of three courts: the Court of Justice (the

former Court of Justice of the European Communities), the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.

2

Protocol no. 3 to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

3

See Şandru, Banu and Clin, Procedura., 19-20.

4

For more information about direct actions, see Fábián 2010, 358-407.

5

See Craig and de Búrca, 2011, EU Law …, 477-478, Chalmers, Davies and Monti, 2010, 143-149.

as annulment actions, actions regarding

EU’s institutions failure to act, EU’s non-

contractual liability or staff cases

4

, undergo

a contentious procedure.

These competences are divided

between the Court of Justice, the General

Court and the Civil Service Tribunal

5

.

At present, in spite of the fact that

article 256 paragraph 3 of Treaty on the

Functioning of the European Union renders

jurisdiction to the General Court to hear and

determine questions re ferred for a

preliminary ruling, in specific areas laid

down by the Statute, only the Co urt of

Justice can answer preliminary questions,

since its Statute has not yet been modified in

this respect. Article 3 of the Regulation (EU,

Euratom) of the European Parliament and of

the Council of 16 December 2015 amending

Protocol No 3 on the Statute of the Court of