About the General Court

Who works at the General Court?

The Judges

The General Court has 54 Judges, 2 from each Member State.

Each Member State nominates its own Judges. There are no EU rules as to how a Judge must be chosen and each Member State can follow its own procedure. However, the person chosen must be independent and be qualified to hold high judicial office. A special committee examines the candidates to ensure that they are suitable for the role of Judge. This is known as the 255 Committee, named after Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which created it. Judges are then officially appointed by all the Member States acting together.

Judges are appointed for a six-year period. This can be renewed.

Did you know?

The longest-serving Judge at the General Court is Marc Jaeger, from Luxembourg, who was first appointed in 1996. He also served as the General Court’s President for 12 years from September 2007 to September 2019.

The Judges elect a President and a Vice-President for a three-year period.

The current President is Marc van der Woude, who was first elected in 2019.

Advocates General

Unlike the Court of Justice, the General Court does not have permanent Advocates General. It is, however, possible for a Judge to perform the role of an Advocate General.

In references for preliminary rulings, two Judges are elected from amongst the Judges to act as Advocate General. They are elected for a term of three years. The Advocate General is always heard in a reference for a preliminary ruling, but will only issue an Opinion when a case raises new points of law and an Opinion would be useful.

In direct actions, the task of Advocate General may also, in exceptional circumstances, be assigned to a Judge. However, this happens rarely. Only a handful of cases, at the start of the General Court’s history in the early 1990s, made use of this possibility.

How many Judges hear a case?

Not all Judges hear every case. Each case is allocated to a Chamber.

The General Court has 10 Chambers that can hear cases with either three or five Judges. There is also a Grand Chamber of 15 Judges and an intermediate Chamber of 9 Judges.

The number of Judges reflects how important or complicated the case is.

The majority of cases are heard by Chambers of three Judges. In rare instances, cases assigned to a Chamber sitting with three Judges may be heard and determined by the Judge-Rapporteur sitting as a single Judge. References for preliminary rulings are heard by five Judges.

The Presidents of the Chambers are elected from amongst the Judges for a period of three years.

All of the Chambers can hear actions for annulment. However, intellectual property cases are assigned to specific Chambers, as are staff cases. This specialisation helps to ensure the most efficient handling of cases.

There are also two specialised Chambers that hear the references for a preliminary ruling transferred to the General Court. Each Chamber has six Judges, one of whom is elected as Advocate General. The Opinion is given by the Advocate General from the other specialised Chamber. 

The Registrar and Registry

The General Court has its own Registry, which manages the cases.

The Registrar is in charge of the Registry. The Registrar is appointed by the Judges of the General Court for a six-year period. Like the Judges, their term can also be renewed. The current Registrar is Vittorio Di Bucci, who was first appointed in 2023.

The General Court also uses the other departments of the institution.

What cases does the General Court hear?

The General Court can hear many different types of cases. Most of its cases are those brought by individuals and companies against decisions and acts of EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies.

Actions for annulment brought by individuals

The General Court hears all cases brought by individuals, companies or organisations challenging acts or decisions of EU bodies. To be admissible, the act being challenged must either:

1. be directly addressed to the person. This is the case, for example, for a decision freezing a person’s assets or a competition decision imposing a fine on a company; or
2. be a regulatory act that directly affects that person and needs no further implementing measure to come into effect; or
3. directly and individually concern the legal situation of the person bringing the case.

“Direct and individual concern” has a very specific meaning in EU law. This means that although the decision does not name the person directly, it affects the legal situation of that person because of certain characteristics that distinguish them from all other people.

If the General Court decides that the decision is incorrect, it can annul it. This means that the decision never existed. The institution or body that took the decision must then take whatever action is necessary to deal with the consequences of the judgment.

In cases involving a fine, for example in competition cases, the General Court has “unlimited jurisdiction”. This means that if it finds errors in the decision, but not enough to annul the whole decision, it can adjust the amount of the fine. It can also decide to increase the fine.

Actions for annulment brought by Member States

The General Court hears cases brought by a Member State against the Commission.

It also hears cases brought by a Member State against the Council in some circumstances. These include cases challenging acts involving

• State aid
• trade and anti-dumping issues
• other acts where the Council exercises implementing powers

References for preliminary rulings

EU law forms part of the national law of every EU country. This means that EU law can be used directly in front of national courts in the EU. National judges are therefore able to apply EU law directly. This is something called the “direct effect” of EU law.

If it is unclear precisely how EU law should be interpreted in a case, national judges can ask the Court questions. This way they can clarify what a provision of EU law means or even whether it is valid. This then allows them to apply EU law and to decide if national legislation and practices are in line with EU law.

Any independent court or tribunal in the EU can ask these questions if necessary.

National courts whose decisions cannot be appealed must ask these questions if the answer isn’t clear and the answer is needed to decide the case.

All references for preliminary rulings are initially brought before the Court of Justice. Most are also heard by the Court of Justice. However, cases are transferred to the General Court when they involve

• VAT
• customs, excise duties or the tariff classification of goods
• greenhouse gas emissions trading
• passenger compensation

unless they involve a decision of principle likely to affect the unity or consistency of EU law.

Once the questions are answered, the case goes back to the national court to make a final decision on the case.

The General Court’s ruling on EU law can be subject to review by the Court of Justice where it finds that the decision of the General Court affects the unity or consistency of EU law. Otherwise it is final and binding. The national court must follow the answer given by the General Court. Other national courts across the EU also have to follow this ruling if they have similar cases.

Actions for failure to act

These cases are similar to actions for annulment. However, instead of being brought when an EU body has taken a decision, these cases are brought when an EU body has failed to take a decision. These cases can only be brought when the EU body has been asked to act and is under an obligation to do so.

These cases are rare.

As with actions for annulment, the General Court is responsible for cases brought by individuals. The Court of Justice is responsible for cases brought by Member States and EU institutions.

Please note that whilst citizens may bring a potential breach of EU law by a Member State to the attention of the Commission, the Commission is not obliged to bring a case against the Member State. It is not possible to bring a case for failure to act against the Commission in such circumstances.

Intellectual property cases

The EU has its own system of trade marks and designs. They exist in parallel with national trade marks. An EU trade mark is valid for the whole of the EU.

The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) manages this system and decides if EU trade marks and designs can be registered. EUIPO has its own internal appeal procedure with a Board of Appeal that hears challenges to these initial decisions.

Appeals against decisions taken by EUIPO’s Board of Appeal are heard by the General Court.

Approximately 25% of all General Court cases are intellectual property cases.

Staff cases

If an employee of the EU has an employment dispute with their employer (an EU institution, agency, etc.), the General Court hears the appeal against the final administrative decision.

In such cases, it acts in a similar way to employment courts in national legal systems.

Actions for damages

The General Court hears requests for compensation for damage caused by the unlawful actions of the EU’s institutions and other bodies.

Specific Contracts

Contracts between the EU and companies or individuals sometimes include specific clauses stating that the Court of Justice of the EU is to hear any case arising from a dispute under the contract. Such clauses are normal in contracts.

These cases are heard by the General Court.

Appeals against General Court Decisions

As in all legal systems, there is a mechanism for decisions of the General Court to be appealed to the Court of Justice.

Appeals can only be made on questions of law, not on how the General Court established and evaluated the facts of the case.

In some types of cases, the General Court is already acting like a court of appeal. Many EU agencies and bodies that take decisions, for example the EUIPO or the EU Chemicals Agency, have an independent board of appeal. In such instances, the Agency’s own Board of Appeal will have already examined the initial decision before the case is brought to the General Court. These decisions of the General Court can therefore only be appealed if the Court of Justice grants permission through a special procedure. The appeal is allowed to proceed when it raises an issue that is significant for the unity, consistency or development of EU law.

Appeals must be brought within two months of the General Court decision.

If the Court of Justice agrees with the appeal and annuls the decision of the General Court, it can either decide the case itself or send the case back for the General Court to reassess.

Around 25% of all decisions are appealed. Of these, only 25% are overturned by the Court of Justice. As a result, only 6% of General Court rulings are overturned by the Court of Justice.

Decisions in references for preliminary rulings cannot be appealed. However, the Court of Justice can re-examine the case where it finds that the decision of the General Court affects the unity or consistency of EU law.

How does the procedure work?

The procedure before the General Court is governed by the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court’s Rules of Procedure.

The procedure has two basic parts, known as the written phase and the oral phase.

In references for a preliminary ruling, the procedure is the same as that before the Court of Justice. Other cases are started by an application being lodged at the General Court Registry. This must be signed by a lawyer authorised to practise before a court of a Member State.

The parties submit their arguments to the Court in writing. Member States, the EU institutions and others who have a direct interest in the outcome of the case can also intervene to support one side or the other. This is the written phase of the procedure.

Many cases also have a hearing. Hearings are public, and the most important can be streamed on our website. For more information on watching hearings, see our pages on streaming and how to attend a hearing. This is the oral phase of the procedure.

If it has been requested by the General Court, the Advocate General prepares an Opinion. Opinions are delivered in open court, and some are streamed live on our website.

Once the oral phase is completed, the Judges deliberate and come to their decision.

The judgment is then delivered in open court and some are streamed live on our website.

On average, cases take around 20 months from start to finish.

For more information, see our page on the Procedure before the General Court.