New search engine Basis for publication Official languages

New search engine for consultation of case-law

The Curia site search engine has been significantly improved in order to enable users to access more easily the information available on the case-law of the three Courts.

The tool now also allows searching for information on pending cases and thus the progress of cases may be followed more easily.

The main improvements are as follows:

Extension of textual searching

The new search engine allows ‘full text' searches to be carried out on all documents published in the European Court Reports since 1954 (1994 for the European Court Reports - Staff Cases (ECR-SC)).

Multi-option searching

The new search form includes a large number of fields enabling precise searching in case-law.  Thus, in addition to textual searching, the search options include: the stage of cases (closed and/or pending cases), the Court involved, the type of document (such as judgments, orders, Opinions, Opinions of the Court and summaries), the case number, the names of parties, a period or date, the subject-matter, the procedure and the result, the legal acts of the European Union cited in the case-law, the systematic classification system, the country of origin of references for preliminary rulings, the nationality of parties, etc.  

More user-friendly presentation of the search results

The search results are presented:

either in the form of a list of cases giving access to analytical data contained in a detailed page,

or in the form of a complete list of documents arranged by case number, from the most recent to the oldest.

Detailed on-line help

Each option is presented in a ‘help' page, which can be consulted at any point in a search, enabling users to make the best possible use of the tool.

access the new search engine

Basis for publication

‘Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court
Part I - Court of Justice

Since 1 May 2004, subject to a decision to the contrary by the formation of the Court concerned, the following are not published in the ECR:
- judgments delivered, other than in preliminary ruling proceedings, by Chambers of three Judges,
- judgments delivered, other than in preliminary ruling proceedings, by Chambers of five Judges ruling without an Advocate General's Opinion,
- orders.
However, those decisions are accessible on the Court's internet site (http://curia.europa.eu) in the available languages, namely the language of the case and the language of deliberation.

As from Part 2006-1, the ECR includes a section containing information on unpublished decisions (pages numbered I-1*, I-2*, etc.).

‘Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the General Court
Part II - General Court

As from Part 2005-9, subject to a decision to the contrary by the formation of the Court concerned, the following are published in the ECR:
- judgments of the Grand Chamber,
- judgments of Chambers of five Judges.

The decision to publish judgments of Chambers of three Judges is made on a case-by-case basis by the formation of the Court.

Judgments of the General Court ruling as a single Judge and orders of a judicial nature, subject to a decision to the contrary, are not published in the ECR. Unpublished judgments, orders bringing an action to a close and orders in interim proceedings are, however, accessible on the Court of Justice's internet site (http://curia.europa.eu) in the available languages, namely the language of the case and, if applicable, the language of deliberation.

Also as from Part 2005-9, the ECR includes a section containing information on unpublished decisions (pages numbered II-1*, II-2*, etc.).

‘Reports of European Community Staff Cases'

Section I contains summaries of the judgments and orders of the Civil Service Tribunal and those of the General Court given at first instance in staff cases. It also contains summaries of the judgments of the General Court and the Court of Justice given on appeal. It is published in all the official languages.

Section II contains the full text of judgments and orders given at first instance, the summaries of which appear in Section I. These texts are published in the language of the case, and, for cases of general interest, in the official languages. It also contains the full text of decisions on appeal in the language of the case.

‘Official Journal of the European Union'

The following are published in the Official Journal of the European Union - Series C (Notices),

for the Court of Justice:
(a) notices of applications initiating proceedings, as referred to in Article 16(6) of the Rules of Procedure;
(b) notices of the removal of cases from the register;
(c) subject to a decision by the Court to the contrary, the operative part of every judgment and interim order;
(see Article 25 of the ‘Instructions to the Registrar')

and for the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal: notices of proceedings brought and of decisions closing proceedings.
(see Article 18 of the ‘Instructions to the registrar of the General Court' and Article 17 of the ‘Instructions to the Registrar of the Civil Service Tribunal')

Official languages

Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Finnish and Swedish to 30 April 2004, and Czech, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Slovene from 1 May 2004, and Bulgarian and Romanian from 1 January 2007.
For Maltese (until 30 April 2007) and Irish (until 31 December 2011) respectively, temporary derogations have been laid down by Council Regulations (EC) Nos 930/2004 and 1738/2006 and by Council Regulation No 920/2005.