Order — ECLI:EU:C:2002:38
Date: 2002-01-22
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Right of establishment
Concepts: Definition of court or tribunal of a Member State
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling - inadmissible
Origin: Austria

Summary of the Order 
Preliminary rulings — Reference to the Court — National court or tribunal within the 
meaning of Article 234 EC — Definition — Landesgericht acting in its capacity as an 
authority responsible for keeping the commercial register and not giving judgment in any 
dispute — Excluded 
(Art. 234 EC) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-447/00 
It follows from Article 234 EC that a 
national court may refer a question to the 
Court only if there is a case pending before 
it and if it is called upon to give judgment 
in proceedings intended to lead to a 
decision of a judicial nature. 
The Landesgericht Salzburg (Austria) may 
not, therefore, make a reference for a 
preliminary ruling to the Court in its 
capacity as an authority responsible for 
keeping the commercial register in a case 
concerning an entry in that register, where 
there is nothing to indicate that there is a 
dispute pending before it, since the Land­
esgericht is the first authority to have 
before it the application for entry in the 
commercial register, which has not given 
rise to any decision in respect of which an 
application for review has been made to the 
Landesgericht. 
(see paras 17, 20-21) 
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