The binding authority of the rulings rendered by the European Court of Justice is the principal reason why the preliminary ruling procedure may constitute an efficient means of enforcing EU law in general – and EU values in particular. This article explains how the preliminary ruling procedure can be used as a tool towards the enforcement of EU values. It considers who can use the procedure to this end, it examines how to create the basis for...

According to Article 267 TFEU, a ‘court or tribunal of a Member State’ can make a preliminary reference to the Court of Justice. The Court applies a single, homogeneous definition of a ‘court or tribunal’. This has allowed it to admit references from those specialised, independent, administrative bodies that in several Member States have been established instead of administrative courts to decide claims under public law, including EU law. Whet...

The European Court of Human Rights does not have powers that would allow it to interpret and apply European Union law, nor an institutional framework that would facilitate its dialogue with the Court of Justice of the European Union, similar to the one implemented by Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. However, the Judgment in Spasov is the step that the European Court of Human Rights takes in the direction of ...

The article reflects on the request submitted by the Court of Justice of the European Union, with a view to amend its Statute transferring to the General Court the jurisdiction to hear and determine questions referred for a preliminary ruling in specific areas laid down by the Statute.

In December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union made a request to the EU legislators to amend the provisions of its Statute in order to entrust the General Court with the adjudication of some preliminary rulings. The present article explores the main lines of the proposal in the broader framework of possible avenues for reform of the EU judicial system.

The regime of preliminary rulings is central to the judicial architecture of the EU. National courts of final resort have a duty to refer to the CJEU when a decision on a question of EU law raised is necessary for the resolution of the case before it. The exceptions to this duty are closely circumscribed. This article considers the inter-relationship of the Advocate General and the Court of Justice in delineating the nature of this duty and t...