Search Results

This chapter examines the development of the Court of First Instance (CFI) over the last 18 years, and offers some thoughts as to the possible evolution of its role. It argues that the role of the CFI will in practice be determined by the willingness of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to take the necessary steps to enable the Court of Justice, as an institution, to evolve in order better to deal with present and future challenges. Only bold initiatives and farsightedness will give the ECJ, and all the other courts within the new judicial architecture, a real chance to significantly reduce delays and improve their service for the users of the courts — both national judges and litigants alike — while maintaining the high standards that are rightly expected by Europe, its institutions and its citizens.

This chapter examines the principle of equal treatment as it applies to trade mark. It argues that trade mark registration is in danger of becoming a lottery; the danger can only be averted if the CFI and ECJ start stressing the Office's duty to act consistently, to apply common standards, to identify analogous cases and to give them similar treatment. The CFI and ECJ also need to understand that genuine consistency in decision-making practice can only be achieved at the purely administrative level.

This chapter is concerned with access. It is the natural starting point for consideration of administrative law doctrine. The chapter begins with a discussion on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and Court of First Instance (CFI) concerning the right to take part in the initial determination. It then considers political initiatives to foster consultation in the Community legislative process. It also discusses the possible impact of the Charter of Rights and considers the reform that would have been made by the Constitutional Treaty (CT).

This chapter is concerned with the relationship between the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (CFI), and that between the Community courts and the national courts. It begins with the analysis of the central structural and jurisdictional features of the present system, followed by consideration of the case-load problems of the Community courts, and the techniques available to limit the cases that are heard. Finally, the chapter discusses the aims that should underlie reform of the Community's judicial architecture.

This chapter analyses the role of rights in the Community legal order and their impact on judicial review. It begins with a discussion on the evolution of Community rights, revealing the input from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Court of First Instance (CFI), and the Community political organs. It then provides an overview of the concerns voiced about the protection of rights within the Community prior to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The focus shifts to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, its genesis, and content. It concludes by examining the broader relevance of human rights within the EU.

Chapter 1 describes the ECJ’s situation in the 1980s and the negotiations which led to the creation of the Court of First Instance and the transfer of certain areas of jurisdiction from the Court of Justice to that court. Those changes in the EU Court structure created the need for an additional legal remedy: the ‘appeal’. The appeals system was then adjusted to accommodate later developments, such as the creation of the Civil Service Tribunal and the recast of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice. Nowadays, it is the reform of the General Court which has the greatest impact on appeals before the Court of Justice.