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CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS: I. COMMUNITY COURTS IN THE AREA OF JUDICIAL COOPERATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2008
Abstract
A. The area of freedom, security and justice and the role of the Court of Justice
One of the subjects which has aroused particular interest in the study of the ‘area of freedom, security and justice’ introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam as an objective of the European Union (EU) inherent in the principle of the free movement of persons (see the preamble to, and Article 2, the Treaty on EU) is the role of the European Court of Justice (Court). The interest is both theoretical and practical, because one of the main issues is the Court's jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings and thus relations between national and Community courts and the protection of the interests of individuals before national courts wherever there is a conflict between national and Community law and thus a question of interpretation of Community law arises in national proceedings. The Treaty of Nice, which came into force on 1 February 2003, altered the jurisdiction and organisation of the Community judicature and therefore affected the ‘area of freedom, security and justice’.1
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References
1 Among the many articles on the area of freedom, security and justice which make particular reference to the jurisdiction of the Court, see Peers, S ‘Who's Judging the Watchmen? The Judicial System of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’ [1998] YEL 337Google Scholar and EU Justice and Home Affairs Law (1999) 139 et seq; and A Tizzaho La Cour de justice aprés Nice: le transfert de compétences au Tribunal de Premiere Instance [2002] II Diritto dell'Unione europea 597; see also the report of Constitutional working party X ‘Freedom, security and justice’ WGX-WD3 entitled ‘Instruments et procedures de l'Espace de liberté, sécurité et justice’, esp 12, reproduced in Kerchove, G de and Weyemberg, A (ed) Quelles réformes pour I'espace pénal européen (Bruxelles 2003) 41 et seq.Google Scholar
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13 On the possible future structure of the Court and the CFI according to the outline given, see the Convention document CONV 636/03 Cercle 113 (Final report of the discussion group on the functioning of the Court of Justice) 4 et seq. Declaration no 16, adopted by the Conference of the representatives of the Member States on Art 225a of the EC Treaty, annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty of Nice, contains a request to the Court of Justice and the Commission to prepare as soon as possible a draft decision on the institution of a judicial panel with jurisdiction to rule at first instance on disputes between the Community and its officials. Declaration no 17 on Art 229a EC states that that provision does not affect the choice of judicial framework to be defined in the future for dealing with disputes relating to the application of acts adopted pursuant to the Treaty establishing the European Community which create intellectual property rights. In another declaration, of which the Conference took note, annexed to the Final Act, the Luxembourg Government gave an undertaking not to request the location in Luxembourg of the appeal boards of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Patents), which will remain in Alicante even in the event that they should become judicial panels within the meaning of Art 220 EC. For the text of the common political approach of the Council to the Community trade mark, see Council document 7159/03–PI 24 of 7 Mar 2003.Google Scholar
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22 On the linguistic regime of the institutions, see Art 290 of the EC Treaty, which refers to the Statute of the Court of Justice; see, in particular Art 64 of the Statute, pursuant to which the rules laid down therein remain in force until the adoption of a linguistic regime for the Court and the CFI: see Art 29 et seq and Art 35 et seq of the Rules of Procedure of the Court and of the CFI respectively.Google Scholar
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