By that decision, the terms of office of Mr John D. Cooke, Mr Nicholas James Forwood, Mr Rafael García-Valdecasas y Fernández, Ms Pernilla Lindh, Mr Paolo Mengozzi and Mr Jörg Pirrung as Judges are renewed.

The Representatives of the Governments of the Member States also appointed Mr Hubert Legal as a Judge of the Court of First Instance.

A formal sitting, on the occasion of the end of the term of office and departure of Mr Potocki, the entry into office of Mr Legal and the renewal of the terms of office of Mr John D. Cooke, Mr Nicholas James Forwood, Mr Rafael García-Valdecasas y Fernández, Ms Pernilla Lindh, Mr Paolo Mengozzi and Mr Jörg Pirrung will take place on Wednesday 19 September 2001 at 5.30 p.m.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, the Judges will elect one of their number as President of the Court of First Instance for a term of three years.

John D. Cooke
Born 1944; called to the Bar of Ireland 1966; admitted also to the Bars of England & Wales, of Northern Ireland and of New South Wales; Practising barrister 1966 to 1996; admitted to the Inner Bar in Ireland (Senior Counsel) 1980 and New South Wales 1991; President of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community (CCBE) 1985 to 1986; Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Law, University College Dublin; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators; President of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland 1987 to 1990; Bencher of the Honourable Society of Kings Inns, Dublin; Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, London; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 10 January 1996.

Nicholas James Forwood
Born 1948; graduated 1969 from Cambridge University (Mechanical Sciences and Law); called to the English Bar in 1970, thereafter practising in London (1971-1979) and also in Brussels (1979-1999); called to the Irish Bar in 1982; appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987, and Bencher of the Middle Temple 1998; representative of the Bar of England and Wales at the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the EU (CCBE) and Chairman of the CCBE's Permanent Delegation to the European Court of Justice; Treasurer of the European Maritime Law Organisation (board member since 1991); and a Governing Board member of the World Trade Law Association; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 15 December 1999.

Rafael García-Valdecasas y Fernández
Born 1946; Abogado del Estado (at Jaén and Granada); Registrar to the Economic and Administrative Court of Jaén, and subsequently of Cordova; Member of the Bar (Jaén and Granada); Head of the Spanish State Legal Service for Cases before the Court of Justice of the European Communities; Head of the Spanish delegation in the working group created at the Council of the European Communities with a view to establishing the Court of First Instance of the European Communities; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 25 September 1989.

Hubert Legal
Born 1954; Maître des Requêtes at the French Conseil d'État from 1991 onwards; graduate of the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud and of the École Nationale d'Administration; Associate Professor of English (1979-1985); rapporteur and subsequently Commissaire du Gouvernement in proceedings before the judicial sections of the Conseil d'État (1988-1993): legal adviser in the Permanent Representation of the French Republic at the United Nations in New York (1993-1997); Legal Secretary in the Chambers of Judge Puissochet at the Court of Justice (1997-2001); Judge at the Court of First Instance from 19 September 2001.

Pernilla Lindh
Born 1945; Law graduate of the University of Lund; Judge (assessor), Court of Appeal, Stockholm; Legal Adviser and Director General at the Legal Service of the Trade Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 18 January 1995.

Paolo Mengozzi
Born 1938; Professor of International Law and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair of European Community law at the University of Bologna; Doctor honoris causa of the Carlos III University, Madrid; visiting professor at the Johns Hopkins University (Bologna Center), the Universities of St. Johns (New York), Georgetown, Paris-II, Georgia (Athens) and the Institut Universitaire International (Luxembourg); co-ordinator of the European Business Law Pallas Program of the University of Nijmegen; member of the consultative committee of the Commission of the European Communities on public procurement; Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry during the Italian tenure of the Presidency of the Council; member of the working group of the European Community on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and director of the 1997 session of The Hague Academy of International Law research centre devoted to the WTO; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 4 March 1998.

Jörg Pirrung
Born 1940; academic assistant at the University of Marburg; civil servant in the German Federal Ministry of Justice (Division for International Civil Procedure Law, Division for Children's Law); Head of the Division for Private International Law in the Federal Ministry of Justice; Head of aSubsection for Civil Law; Judge at the Court of First Instance since 11 June 1997.

If you wish to be present at the formal sitting, please send us the attached accreditation form.

Name:
Organisation:
Contact numbers (Tel):	(Fax):
Branch of the media:
Number of persons:
Do you seek authorisation to photograph? (please delete as appropriate): yes    no
Do you seek authorisation to film? (please delete as appropriate): yes    no

In the absence of a refusal from the Court of Justice, you may treat your request as having been accepted.