CURIA - Visits - Court of Justice of the European Union

Visits

Each year, the Court of Justice of the European Union is host, in Luxembourg, to around 4 000 legal professionals: national judges, barristers, solicitors, university professors, in-house lawyers, etc. The programmes enable them to widen their knowledge of the judicial institution and of its case-law.

Around 10 000 other visitors (mainly law students) also visit the Court each year.

Visits organised by the Seminars and Visits Unit are free of charge and take place in all official languages of the European Union.

Visits to the Court of Justice are restricted to the Court terms and take place on working days between 8 a.m. and 5.30 p.m.

Individual visitors/Tours

Guided tours of the buildings and the works of art (Art tour)

Groups of visitors / Types of programme

Seminars

Request for a visit to the Court of Justice of the European Union / Connection to My Visit

General conditions for a visit to the Court of Justice

Address and maps

Individual visitors/Tours

Individual visitors who wish to attend a public hearing at the Court of Justice or the General Court are requested to make themselves known at the visitors’ entrance (plan), with their identity card, passport or driving licence in order to obtain an identification badge. As a general rule, public hearings start at 09:30. It is recommended that visitors arrive at least 15 minutes before the hearing. The number of places available is limited and it is not possible to reserve a place. During the hearing, visitors are required to comply with the Court’s security rules and rules of conduct. No prior registration is necessary. Please consult the judicial calendar in order to select a hearing.

Luxembourg City Tourist Office organises guided tours at weekends and during judicial vacations (when hearings are not held). Requests for such tours must be made 4 weeks in advance – 30, Place Guillaume II, L-1648 Luxembourg – B.P. 181, L-2011 Luxembourg – Tel: +352 22 28 09 – Fax: +352 46 70 70 – Email: guides@lcto.lu – www.luxembourg-city.com.

Guided tours of the buildings and the works of art (Art tour)

Thanks to the contributions of the Member States, the Court of Justice of the European Union holds a collection of works of art, representing the European artistic heritage. The open spaces available in the Court’s new Palais, inaugurated in 2008, have made it possible to show the collection to its best advantage and to add new works, whether as gifts or loans. The Visits Service of the Court organises guided tours at regular intervals, free of charge, of the works of art and the Court's buildings. These tours are organised, following a predefined timetable, in English, French or German, for up to 35 visitors per tour.

Anyone interested in taking part in such a tour is requested to register at least 2 working days in advance, using the registration form. Visitors with confirmed places are requested to come to the visitors’ entrance (plan), bringing with them an identity document. Additional guided tours, for groups only (of at least 7 participants), can be organised on request to the Visits Service (contact form).

Due to the health crisis, these visits are currently suspended !

Groups of visitors/Types of programme

You may select from the list below the programme components that best match your interests and your legal knowledge, and which fit in with your time constraints.

Hearing in a case before the Court of Justice / General Court, preceded by a summary of the case concerned (generally on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:20 to 11:30 (approximately 3 hours)
General presentation of the Court of Justice / General Court (45 minutes)
Presentation on the work of a lawyer-linguist (45 minutes)
Presentation of the multilingualism of the Court of Justice (translation, interpretation) (45 minutes)
Visit to the library (30 minutes)
Guided tour of the buildings (45 minutes)

These programme components can be selected in the questionnaire to be completed in the “My Visit” application (see the section on ‘Connection to My Visit’). Subject to the availability of Court staff and other resources, the Visits Service will do its best to accommodate your choice.

Seminars

Seminars lasting several days and offering programmes more closely tailored to the interests of the participants can be arranged at the request of groups of legal practitioners.

Request for a visit to the Court of Justice of the European Union / Connection to My Visit

The Seminars and Visits Unit organises visits for groups only (7 to 35 persons). For individual visits or tours, please see the relevant section.

Before requesting a visit to the Court, please read carefully the information concerning conditions of registration and organisation.

To make a request for a visit, please use the My Visit application. This enables you to make an online request for a visit. You must have a valid email address in order to do so.

Once you have created your personal profile in the My Visit application, you will be able to make or amend a request for a visit, and also:

create your visitors groups for re-use in connection with subsequent visits;
view potential dates for visits before initiating a request;
choose a type of visit.

Once the request has been made, you will be able to log on to your personal profile and:

track the progress of your request for a visit;
amend certain details of your request for a visit before validating it;
read or print letters concerning your visit;
save details of all your visits to the Court.

If you encounter any problems when using the My Visit application, you can consult the online user handbook by clicking on ‘?’ or use the contact form.

Connexion to My Visit

If you do not have an email address, please go to Contact.

Conditions of registration

Due to the specific nature of the activities of the Court, priority is given to groups of legal practitioners or law students. The minimum age of participants is 18 years. Please contact the Visits Service with regard to requests for groups of students who are not at university level (contact form).
Since there is a high level of interest in the Court amongst legal professionals and law students, requests for visits should be made five to six months in advance.
Visits are organised for groups of at least 7 and no more than 35 persons. For groups of any other size, please contact the Seminars and Visits Unit (contact form).
The group leader is requested to submit a request for an initial reservation.

Organisation

The group leader is requested to send, at least two weeks before the visit, a list of the participants and their dates of birth via the My Visit application.
The Visits Service sends out the proposed programme approximately two weeks before the visit and the final programme approximately one week before the visit via the contact person’s My Visit personal profile.
On the day of the visit, the group is requested to arrive at the entrance and at the time indicated on the programme. Strict punctuality is requested. Visitors’ attention is drawn to the heavy traffic in Luxembourg, resulting in frequent traffic jams in the mornings on the motorways and in the capital.
A guide from the Seminars and Visits Unit greets the group of visitors at the entrance to the Court. That person accompanies and supervises the group throughout its visit to the Court of Justice. Group leaders are also responsible for supervising visitors and assisting the guide.
All participants must have with them their identity card, passport or driving licence.
As a rule, access to the self-service restaurant or cafeteria of the Court is reserved to staff.
At the end of the visit to the Court, the group leader is requested to complete the visit assessment form.

Please note that, in exceptional circumstances, the Court may cancel a planned visit.

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