Court of Justice

The Court of Justice of the European Communities, located in Luxembourg, is made up of one judge from each EU country, assisted by eight advocates-general. They are appointed by joint agreement of the governments of the member states. Each is appointed for a term of six years, after which they may be reappointed for one or two further periods of three years. They can be relied on to show impartiality.

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The Court's job is to ensure that EU law is complied with, and that the treaties are correctly interpreted and applied.

It can find any EU member state guilty of failing to fulfil its obligations under the treaties. It can check whether EU laws have been properly enacted and it can find the European Parliament, the Council or the Commission guilty of failing to act as required.

The Court of Justice is also the only institution that can, at the request of the national courts, give a ruling on the interpretation of the treaties and on the validity and interpretation of EU law. So, when a question of this sort is brought before a court in one of the member states, that court may - and sometimes must - ask the Court of Justice for its ruling.

This system ensures that EU law is interpreted and applied in the same way throughout the European Union.

The Treaties explicitly allow the Court to check whether EU legislation respects the fundamental rights of EU citizens and to give rulings on questions of personal freedom and security.

The Court of First Instance, which was set up in 1989 and consists of one judge from each EU country, is responsible for giving rulings on certain kinds of case, particularly actions brought by firms or private individuals against EU institutions, and disputes between the institutions and their employees.


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