The Council Decision of 24 October 1988 establishing a Court of First Instance of the European Communities provides that the Court of First Instance is to sit in chambers of three or five judges, or in plenary session.
By decision of 26 April 1999 the Council has amended its 1988 decision by adding a provision enabling the Court of First Instance to sit "when constituted by a single judge" (OJ L 114 of 1 May 1999, p. 52). The Council has taken the view that this amendment is necessary having regard to the workload of the Court of First Instance, which has considerably increased since its creation, and which will increase further as a result of new litigation relating to intellectual property rights, and in particular arising from the application of the 1993 regulation on the Community trade mark.
Consequently, on 17 May 1999, with the unanimous approval of the Council, the Court of First Instance amended its Rules of procedure in order to determine the circumstances in which a single Judge may be called upon to give a decision in a case and the detailed rules in accordance with which a case may be heard by a single Judge.
In cases which do not raise any difficult questions of law or fact, which are of limited importance or which do not involve any other special circumstances, the Judge-Rapporteur, sitting as a single Judge, may decide:
The decision to delegate a case to a single Judge must be taken, after the parties have been heard, unanimously by the Chamber composed of three Judges before which the case is pending. Where a Member State or an institution of the European Communities which is a party to the proceedings objects to the case being heard by a single Judge, the case must be maintained before or referred to the Chamber to which the Judge-Rapporteur belongs.
Delegation to a single Judge is not possible:
in cases which raise issues as to the legality of an act of general application;
in cases concerning the implementation of the rules:
- on competition and on control of concentrations;
- Ärelating to aid granted by States;
- relating to measures to protect trade;
- relating to the common organisation of the agricultural markets, with the exception of cases that form part of a series of cases in which the same relief is sought and where one of those cases has already been finally decided;
in cases concerning proceedings brought against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) and against the Community Plant Variety Office.
These amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, together with further details, have recently been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJ L 135 of 29 May 1999, p. 92).
This release is an unofficial document issued for use by the media and is not binding on the Court of First Instance.
For additional information, please contact Fionnuala Connolly, Tel: (00 352) 4303 3355; Fax: (00 352) 4303 2731.