Order — ECLI:EU:C:1998:339
Date: 1998-07-08
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Full Court
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Freedom to provide services;Free movement of workers
Concepts: Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling - inadmissible
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the O r d e r 
Preliminary rulings — Admissibility of reference — Questions put without sufficient information 
on the factual and legislative context — Questions put in a context which excludes a useful reply 
(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 assumptions of fact on 
which those questions are based. The infor­
mation provided in orders for reference not 
I - 4261 
SUMMARY — CASE C-9/98 
only enables the Court usefully to reply but 
also gives the Governments of the Member 
States and other interested parties the oppor­
tunity to submit observations pursuant to 
Article 20 of the EC Statute of the Court. 
Consequently, a request from a national 
court which does not describe the factual 
context of the dispute or the assumptions of 
fact on which it is based, or explain the 
national legislative context, or the precise 
reasons which have prompted it to consider 
the interpretation of Community law and 
deem it necessary to refer questions to the 
Court for a preliminary ruling, is manifestly 
inadmissible, in that it does not enable the 
Court to give a useful interpretation of 
Community law. 
I - 4262