The Court of Justice – how the procedure works

The Statute of the Court, Rules of Procedure and official documents

The main principles governing Court of Justice procedure are laid down in the Statute of the Court. Detailed rules can be found in the Rules of Procedure. These rules are supplemented by other official documents and decisions.

You can find all of these documents on our page on Procedural Texts.

The following is a brief guide to how the procedure works. If you are involved in a case before the Court of Justice, please read the full rules of procedure.

Lodging a case

Cases are lodged with the Court of Justice Registry. This department is the point of contact for parties to cases and national judges and is responsible for the procedural management of cases.

References for a preliminary ruling arrive directly from the national court hearing the case. All other cases are lodged by lawyers acting for the applicant, the party that wishes to start the case.

The language of the case

An important feature of the procedure is the language of the case.

Being able to bring a case to court in a language that you understand and being able to read court judgments is a fundamental part of democracy and the rule of law.

Therefore, the Court of Justice works in all 24 official EU languages. Cases can be brought in any of these languages. For reasons of efficiency, the Court works internally in just a few languages, principally French. However, all communication with parties is done in the language of the case.

This language is determined when the case arrives at the Court of Justice.

For references for a preliminary ruling, the language of the case is the language of the national court that referred the questions.

In direct actions, the language of the case is the language chosen by the applicant. If the defendant is an EU Member State, it must be one of the official languages of that State.

In appeals, the language of the case is the language in which the judgment of the General Court has been delivered.

The Court of Justice of the European Union is the only court in the world that works in so many languages.

The first steps and written procedure

References for a preliminary ruling

The Court’s translation service translates the request from the national court. The Registry then officially notifies the parties involved in the national case, EU Member States and institutions.

The request from the national court is published in the case-law database on the Court’s website, in all official EU languages.

The parties to the national case, Member States, the Commission, and other EU institutions who consider they have a particular interest in the case, can then submit observations to the Court of Justice within two months and ten days from the notification. These observations are not public documents at this stage. After the case has been closed, unless an objection is raised by the author, these observations are published on the Court’s website.

Direct actions and appeals

When a case arrives, the Registry assigns it a case number and records it in the Register. The full application is served on the defendant(s). They have two months and ten days to lodge their defence or response.

The Registry also prepares a summary of the applicant’s claims and arguments. This summary is translated into all EU official languages and published in the Official Journal and in the Court’s case-law database.

A second round of written arguments, known as a reply and a rejoinder, can then take place. In appeals, this requires authorisation from the President. The reply is the applicant’s chance to respond to the arguments of the defendant. The rejoinder gives the defendant the opportunity to respond to this.

These documents are not available to the public.

Assigning a Judge and Advocate General

At the same time, the President assigns the case to a Judge, known as the Judge-Rapporteur. It is this Judge who will follow the case most closely and who will prepare the draft judgment.

The First Advocate General assigns the case to an Advocate General who will also follow the case.

Preliminary report and assigning a case to a Chamber

After the written procedure is closed, the Court of Justice asks the parties whether they would like a hearing to be held.

The Judge-Rapporteur prepares a preliminary report, setting out the facts and arguments of all those involved. This is not a public document.

Based on this report, and the views of the Advocate General, the Court of Justice decides how many Judges should hear the case and whether a hearing and/or an Advocate General’s Opinion is needed.

If the Court of Justice decides to hold a hearing, the President of the Chamber to which the case has been assigned fixes a date.

Measures of organisation and inquiry

The Court of Justice also decides whether any further information is needed before the case proceeds. These are called “Measures of organisation of the procedure and measures of inquiry”. The most common of these measures is asking parties to answer questions during the hearing. It can also involve taking evidence from witnesses or experts.

The hearing

Hearings take place in the Court’s hearing rooms in Luxembourg. They can also take place by video-conference in exceptional circumstances. The lawyers and representatives of the parties come and argue the case before the Judges and Advocate General. The Judges and the Advocate General can ask questions if they wish.

This hearing is public. Some hearings are streamed on the Court’s website.

The Advocate General’s Opinion

If an Opinion has been requested by the Court, this is normally delivered a few months after the hearing. The Advocate General prepares their Opinion and reads it out in open court. This is also streamed live via the Court’s website. The Opinion analyses the case and suggests a solution to the problems raised.

The Opinion is published in the case-law database on the Court’s website.

This is then the end of the oral phase of the proceedings.

Deliberations and drafting the judgment

The Judge-Rapporteur prepares a draft judgment, taking into account all that has been said throughout the procedure.

This draft judgment is the starting point for a discussion among the Judges, known as the deliberation. Advocates General do not take part in the deliberation.

The deliberation is confidential and takes place with no assistants or interpreters. Because of this, the Judges must deliberate in a common language. Traditionally, this is French.

Based on these discussions, the Judges agree on a single text. If necessary, decisions are made by a majority. There are no dissenting opinions or minority judgments. The result of any vote is not made public.

Judgments

Judgments are then, in most instances, translated into all EU languages. For more information, see our multilingualism policy.

The judgments are delivered in open court. This is public and streamed live via the Court’s website.

The judgments are available in the case-law database of the Court’s website on the day of delivery.

Most judgments are then also published in the European Court Reports, the official record of Court judgments. For more information, see our page about the European Court Reports.

Special types of procedure

The Court also has some special types of procedure to help it deal efficiently with different situations.

The simplified procedure

The Court of Justice can use a simplified procedure if a question from a national court is identical to a question that the Court has already answered, or the answer is clear. In such cases, the Court of Justice gives its answer via a reasoned Order, referring to its previous judgments.

The expedited procedure

The expedited procedure enables the Court of Justice to give its rulings quickly in very urgent cases. To do this, the time limits for each part of the procedure are reduced as much as possible. These cases are also prioritised.

The parties (in direct actions and appeals) or the national court (in preliminary ruling cases) can ask for this procedure. The President decides whether to grant the request. He may also decide to apply that procedure of his own motion.

The urgent preliminary ruling procedure (PPU)

Using this procedure, the Court of Justice can deliver judgments in a very short time. It can only be used in references for a preliminary ruling dealing with the area of freedom, security and justice (police and judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, as well as visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to free movement of persons). This procedure is mostly used in cases concerning parental authority or custody of young children, or in cases where a person is in detention.

The Court of Justice designates special Chambers of five Judges in order to deal with these cases. All time limits are severely reduced. Access to the written procedure is limited, with most parties only participating in the hearing.

Applications for interim measures

If a party would suffer serious and irreparable damage before the case is finished, they can ask for the act that they are challenging to be suspended until the case is resolved.

How much does it cost?

The Court charges no fees to bring a case.

However, the Court does not pay for the lawyers hired by the parties.

If a party cannot afford to pay for a lawyer, it is possible to apply for legal aid. For more information on this, see our page about legal aid.