Order — ECLI:EU:C:2008:274
Date: 2008-05-14
Language of the case: French
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Fisheries policy
Concepts: Definition of court or tribunal of a Member State
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: France

Summary of the Order Preliminary rulings – Reference to the Court – National court or tribunal for the purposes of Article 234 EC – Meaning (Art. 234 EC) In order to determine whether a body making a reference is a court or tribunal for the purposes of Article 234 EC, which is a question governed by Community law alone, the Court takes account of a number of factors, such as whether the body is established by law, whether it is permanent, whether its jurisdiction is compulsory, whether its procedure is inter partes, whether it applies rules of law and whether it is independent As regards, more specifically, the independence of the body making a reference, that condition presumes that the body is protected against external intervention or pressure liable to jeopardise the independent judgment of its members as regards proceedings before them. Those guarantees of independence and impartiality require rules, particularly as regards the composition of the body and the appointment, length of service and the grounds for abstention, rejection and dismissal of its members, in order to dismiss any reasonable doubt in the minds of individuals as to the imperviousness of that body to external factors and its neutrality with respect to the interests before it. In that regard, in order to consider the condition regarding the independence of the body making the reference as met, the case-law requires, inter alia, that dismissals of members of that body should be determined by express legislative provisions. The Prud’homie de pêche de Martigues (France) cannot be regarded as meeting the condition as to the independence of the body making a reference and, therefore, it is not a court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 EC. First, the members of the Industrial Tribunals are subject, at least for some of their activities, to supervision by the administration. Second, it does not appear that the process of dismissing a Member of the Industrial Tribunals is subject to specific guarantees which remove any reasonable doubt as to the imperviousness of that body to external factors. (see paras 22-25, 28, 30-31)