eunbil · GT0N1599 · 2006-07-14 00:00:00 — Otherwise, in fields where national proceedings are no less urgent, including proceedings in criminal matters, the Treaties do not confine the possibility of referring to the Court of In the cases concerning Article 37 of the Convention, even courts of first instance were entitled to refer to the Court of . 21It is particularly striking to note that Court judgments of major importance for the operation of the Convention and, therefore, for Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, were given on references from appeal courts. Handelskwekerij Bier v Mines de Potasse dAlsace (Case 21/76), De Bloos v Bouyer (Case 14/76), Tessili (Case 12/76), Denilauler (Case 125/79), Mund & Fester v Hatrex Internationaal Transport (Case C-398/92), Reichert (Case C-261/90) and Group (Case C-412/98) are typical cases, the latter having clarified the applicability of the convention to applicants domiciled in third countries. (Case C-281/02) is another, being a leading case on the scope of the Convention. 22See the Courts press release 14/06 of 13 February 2006, Statistics concerning judicial activity in 2005 consolidation and continuation of the progress recorded in 2004. to national courts of final instance. Thus, while judicial protection is completely insufficient in Title VI of the , since under Article 35(2) it presupposes an opt-in by the Member States and only 14 of them have done this, it is paradoxical to note that the Member States making use of this opt-in retain the freedom to choose to allow all the courts to refer questions for preliminary ruling to the Court of , which eleven of them have done, whereas this is not possible in Title IV. In any event, the Commission believes that, at the present stage of the development of the area of freedom, security and , considerations related to the Courts workload do not suffice to justify the maintenance of a provision which can undermine effective judicial protection and the unity of Community law. Like Europe in general, the area of freedom, security and is being built in stages. Since the entry into force of the and the , Title IV has made it possible to create an impressive body of legislation for the benefit of the Unions citizens and residents in so many aspects of their daily life. The transitional period having expired, it is now urgent for the Council to fulfil its obligation under Article 67 of the and restore the Courts full jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings on legislation that has been adopted. This is necessary in order to fully guarantee the fundamental right to effective judicial protection and the uniformity of Community law, and thus to remedy a shortcoming which is no longer justifiable in a genuine judicial area. adapting the provisions concerning the Court of in fields covered by Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty establishing Community THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing Community, and in particular the second indent of Article 67(2) thereof, Having regard to the opinion of Parliament, (1)By virtue of Article 68(1) of the Treaty, Article 234 of the Treaty is applicable to Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty under the circumstances and conditions specified in that provision. Under Article 68(2), the Court of in any event has no jurisdiction to rule on any measure or decision taken pursuant to Article 62(1) relating to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security. In the same way, the third subparagraph of Article 2(1) of the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of Union excludes the jurisdiction of the Court of to rule on measures or decisions relating to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security in the context of the Schengen acquis. Under Article 68(3) of the Treaty, the Council, the Commission or a may request the Court of to give a ruling on a question of interpretation of this title or of acts of the Community institutions based on it. The ruling given by the Court of in response to such a request must not apply to judgments of courts or tribunals of the Member States which have become res judicata. (2)Under the second indent of Article 67(2) of the Treaty, the Council, acting unanimously after consulting Parliament, is to take a decision, after a five-year transitional period after the entry into force of the , with a view to adapting the provisions relating to the powers of the Court of . (3)That adaptation should be made by aligning the special provisions existing in the fields covered by Title IV on the standard rules of the Treaty. The special provisions should therefore cease to apply and be replaced by application of the general rules of the Treaty, and in particular Article 234. (4)In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing Community, is not taking part in the adoption of this Decision and is not bound by it or subject to its application, 1.With effect from [1 January 2007], Article 234 of the Treaty shall apply to any request made to the Court of by a national court to rule on a question concerning the interpretation of Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty or on the validity and interpretation of acts of the Community institutions on the basis of that Title, including requests made before [1 January 2007] on which the Court of has not yet ruled at that date. 2.With effect from [1 January 2007], the second sentence of the third subparagraph of Article 2(1) of the Protocol integrating the Schengen acquis into the framework of Union shall cease to apply in matters to which Community law applies. 3.With effect from [1 January 2007], Article 68 of the Treaty shall cease to apply. Done at , []