Concept of a court or tribunal under the reference for a preliminary ruling : who can refer questions to the Court of Justice of the EU?

Abstract

Who can refer a question on the interpretation and validity of EU law to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU)? The most evident answer is a court or tribunal from a Member State, as it is established in the EU Treaties. The CJEU has developed a European concept of a court or tribunal through case law, but the EU Member States have diverse legal systems and there is no uniformity on the consideration of some bodies as a court or tribunal. Furthermore, the CJEU has had some problems with the interpretation of what a court or tribunal is, has added new criteria and has departed from some positions. On top of that, the EU has been growing and each enlargement has brought and will bring countries with more diverse legal systems. Because of that, the case law of the CJEU should be firm in order to avoid legal uncertainty aboutwho is truly empowered to use the procedure. The aim of this study is to analyse the concept of a court or tribunal through the relevant case law where the criteria have been set and where certain particular bodies which do not exercise a pure judicial function have been considered competent to raise questions.