Order — ECLI:EU:C:1999:188
Date: 1999-04-21
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation
Concepts: Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling - inadmissible
Origin: France

Summary of the O r d e r 
Preliminary rulings — Admissibility of questions referred — Where the order for reference gives 
no indication of the factual or legislative context and fails to give reasons justifying the reference 
to the Court 
(EC Treaty, Art. 177; EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 20) 
In order to reach an interpretation of Com­
munity law which will be of use to the national 
court, it is essential that the national court 
define the factual and legislative context of 
the questions it is asking or, at the very least, 
explain the factual circumstances on which 
those questions are based. 
I -1963 
SUMMARY —JOINED CASES C-28/98 AND C-29/98 
The information provided and the questions 
raised in orders for reference must not only 
be such as to enable the Court usefully to 
reply but must also make it possible for the 
governments of the Member States and other 
interested parties to submit observations pur­
suant to Article 20 of the Statute of the Court 
of Justice. It is for the Court to ensure that 
this possibility is safeguarded, given that, pur­
suant to the aforementioned provision, only 
the orders for reference are notified to the 
interested parties. 
Consequently, a reference from a national 
court for a preliminary ruling is manifestly 
inadmissible where it does not contain any 
information which satisfies the above require­
ments with respect to the factual and legal 
context of the dispute before the national 
court or the reasons for which that Court 
considers it necessary to refer certain ques­
tions to the Court of Justice. 
I - 1964