Amendments to the statute of the Court of Justice - Main contents

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 24 July 2012 PRESSE 350

Amendments to the statute of the Court of Justice

The Council today¹ adopted a regulation amending the protocol of the statute of the Court of Justice to enable a better distribution of the court's workload and to adapt the working methods of the General Court (PE-CONS 28/12).

Adoption of the regulation follows a request made by the Court of Justice in April 2011 ; examination of the part of the Court's request concerning an increase in the number of judges at the General Court will however be held over until a later stage

As a consequence of the progressive expansion of its jurisdiction, the number of cases brought before the General Court has been growing steadily, with a significant increase in the number of cases pending and an increase in the duration of proceedings

As a first step, the regulation accordingly provides for:

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  establishment of the office of Vice-President for both the Court of Justice and the General Court, in order to assist the President in carrying out his/her responsibilities. The President and Vice-President will be elected by the judges from amongst their number for a (renewable) term of three years;

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  modification of the composition of the Grand Chamber to include three presidents of the five-judge chambers, with corresponding adjustments to the quorum required for decisions of the Grand Chamber and the full Court. The Grand Chamber will consist of 15 judges;

The decision was taken without discussion at a meeting of the General Affairs

Council

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  the possibility of attaching temporary judges to the specialised courts

In adopting the regulation, the Council approved all amendments voted by the European Parliament at first reading on 5 July, following an agreement reached between the institutions