Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2003:146
Date: 2003-03-11
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Concepts: Equality for men and women;Respective powers of the Communities and of the Member States
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Order 
1. Applications for interim measures — Suspension of operation of a measure — 
Interim measures — Application made in the context of a reference for a preliminary 
ruling — Lack of jurisdiction of the Court 
(Arts 234 EC, 242 EC and 243 EC; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 83) 
2. Community law — Direct effect — Primacy — Action brought before the national 
court in order to establish a breach of Community law resulting from national law — 
Breach still to be established — Application for interim measures — Obligations and 
powers of the national court seised 
(Arts 10 EC and 234 EC) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-186/01 R 
1. In the context of the preliminary ruling 
procedure, the Court has no jurisdic­
tion to entertain an application for 
interim relief. Under Articles 242 EC 
and 243 EC and Article 83 of its Rules 
of Procedure, the Court has jurisdiction 
to entertain in interlocutory proceed­
ings, first, applications for suspension 
of the operation of an act challenged by 
means of an action brought before it 
and, second, for other interim measures 
requested by a party in a case before it 
and which relate to that case. Those 
articles do not apply to the preliminary 
ruling procedure, which is based on a 
clear division of functions between the 
national courts and the Court of Jus­
tice, which only has jurisdiction to rule 
on the interpretation and validity of the 
Community provisions the application 
of which is at issue in a dispute before a 
national court, the resolution of the 
dispute being a matter for that court 
alone. 
As a result of the substantial difference 
between contentious proceedings and 
the incidental procedure provided for 
in Article 234 EC, it is therefore not 
possible, in the absence of an express 
provision, to extend to that procedure 
the rules prescribed exclusively for 
contentious proceedings. 
(see paras 6-8, 10) 
2. It is for the national courts, pursuant to 
the principle of cooperation laid down 
in Article 10 EC, to ensure the legal 
protection which persons derive from 
the direct effect of provisions of Com­
munity law. In particular, as a matter of 
Community law, national courts have 
to be able to grant interim relief when 
seised of applications based on Com­
munity law and the interim legal pro­
tection which Community law ensures 
for individuals before national courts 
must remain the same, irrespective of 
whether they contest the compatibility 
of national legal provisions with Com­
munity law or the validity of secondary 
Community law 
(see paras 11-12) 
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