European Court of Justice

Composition
The Court is divided into 3 bodies:
1.Court of Justice deals with requests for preliminary rulings from national courts,
certain actions for annulment and appeals.
2.General Court rules on actions for annulment brought by individuals, companies
and, in some cases, EU governments. In practice, this means that this court deals
mainly with competition law, State aid, trade, agriculture, trade marks.
3.Civil Service Tribunal - rules on disputes between the EU and its staff.
Each judge and advocate general is appointed for a renewable 6-year term, jointly by
national governments. In each Court, the judges select a President who serves a
renewable term of 3 years.
1.The ECJ is the highest court of the European Union in matters of Union law, but not
national law. It is not possible to appeal the decisions of national courts to the ECJ, but
rather national courts refer questions of EU law to the ECJ. However, it is ultimately for
the national court to apply the resulting interpretation to the facts of any given case.
Although, only courts of final appeal are bound to refer a question of EU law when one
is addressed. The treaties give the ECJ the power for consistent application of EU law
across the EU as a whole.
The court also acts as arbiter between the EU's institutions and can annul the latter's
legal rights if it acts outside its powers.
The judicial body is now undergoing strong growth, as witnessed by its continually rising
caseload and budget. The Luxembourg courts received more than 1,300 cases when
the most recent data was recorded in 2008, a record. The staff budget also hit a new
high of almost 238 million in 2009, while in 2014 350 million were budgeted.

Judges of ECJ

The Court of Justice consists of 28 Judges who are assisted by eleven AdvocatesGeneral. The Judges and Advocates-General are appointed by common accord of the
governments of the member states and hold office for a renewable term 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. 37% of judges had experience of judging appeals before they joined the
ECJ. In practice, each member state nominates a judge whose nomination is then
ratified by all the other member states.

President of ECJ

The President of the Court of Justice is elected from and by the judges for a renewable
term of three years. The president presides over hearings and deliberations, directing
both judicial business and administration (for example, the time table of the Court and
Grand Chamber). He also assigns cases to the chambers for examination and appoints
judge

as rapporteurs (reporting

judges). The

Council

may

also

appoint

assistant rapporteurs to assist the President in applications for interim measures and to
assist rapporteurs in the performance of their duties.

2. The General Court is made up of at least one judge from each Member State (35 in
2016). The judges are appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member
States after consultation of a panel responsible for giving an opinion on candidates'
suitability to perform the duties of Judge. Their term of office is six years, and is
renewable. They appoint their President, for a period of three years, from amongst
themselves. They appoint a Registrar for a term of office of six years.
The Judges perform their duties in a totally impartial and independent manner.
Unlike the Court of Justice, the General Court does not have permanent Advocates
General. However, that task may, in exceptional circumstances, be carried out by a
Judge.

Cases before the General Court are heard by Chambers of five or three Judges or, in
some cases, as a single Judge. It may also sit as a Grand Chamber (fifteen Judges)
when this is justified by the legal complexity or importance of the case.
The Presidents of the Chambers of five Judges are elected from amongst the Judges
for a period of three years.
The General Court has its own Registry, but uses the administrative and linguistic
services of the institution for its other requirements.

3. The Civil Service Tribunal is composed of seven Judges appointed by the Council
for a period of 6 years which may be renewed, following a call for applications and after
taking the opinion of a committee established for that purpose. Those Judges may be
supplemented by temporary Judges, who are called upon to stand in for member
Judges who are prevented on a long-term basis from participating in the settlement of
disputes.
When appointing the Judges on the proposal of the committee, the Council ensures a
balanced composition of the Civil Service Tribunal on as broad a geographical basis
and as broad a representation of the national legal systems as possible.
The Judges of the Civil Service Tribunal elect their President from among their number
for a term of 3 years which may be renewed. The Civil Service Tribunal sits in
Chambers of three Judges. However, whenever the difficulty or importance of the
questions of law raised justifies it, a case may be referred to the full court. Furthermore,
in certain cases determined by its Rules of Procedure, the Civil Service Tribunal may sit
in a Chamber of five Judges or as a single Judge. The Judges appoint a Registrar for a
term of 6 years. The Civil Service Tribunal has its own Registry, but makes use of the
services of the Court of Justice for its other administrative and linguistic needs.