AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, signed at Maastricht on 7 February 1992,

Having regard to Article 168a of the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Article 32d of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community,

Having regard to Article 140a of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

Having regard to Article 157 (5) of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded,

Having regard to the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, signed in Brussels on 17 April 1957,

Having regard to the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community, signed in Paris on 18 April 1951,

Having regard to the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Atomic Energy Community, signed in Brussels on 17 April 1957,

Having regard to Council Decision 88/591/ECSC, EEC, Euratom of 24 October 1988 establishing a Court of First Instance of the European Communities (OJ No L 319 of 25 November 1988, p. 1 and Corrigendum in OJ No L 241 of 17 August 1989, p. 4), as amended by Decisions 93/350/Euratom, ECSC, EEC (OJ No L 144 of 16 June 1993, p. 21) and 94/149/ECSC, EC (OJ No L 66 of 10 March 1994, p. 29), and to the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden,

Having regard to the agreement of the Court of Justice,

Having regard to the unanimous approval of the Council given on 17 February 1997,

Whereas it is necessary, in the light of experience, to make certain amendments to the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance;

Whereas, following the accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden, certain adaptations of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance are necessary,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS TO ITS RULES OF PROCEDURE:

Article 1

The Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities adopted on 2 May 1991 (OJ No L 136 of 30 May 1991, p. 1, and Corrigendum in OJ No L 317 of 19 November 1991, p. 34), as amended on 15 September 1994 (OJ No L 249 of 24 September 1994, p. 17) and 17 February 1995 (OJ No L 44 of 28 February 1995, p. 64) and 6 July 1995 (OJ No L 172 of 22 July 1995, p. 3), shall be amended as follows:

1. In Article 32 (1) the following new second subparagraph shall be inserted:

'Where, following the designation of an Advocate-General pursuant to Article 17, there is an even number of Judges in the Court of First Instance sitting in plenary session, the President of the Court shall designate, before the hearing and in accordance with a rota established in advance by the Court of First Instance and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, the Judge who will not take part in the judgment of the case.`

2. In Article 32 (21) the word 'seven` shall be replaced by the word 'nine`.

3. Article 35 (1) shall be replaced by the following:

'1. The language of a case shall be Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish.`

4. In Article 35 paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following:

'2. The language of the case shall be chosen by the applicant, except that:

(a) at the joint request of the parties, the use of another of the languages mentioned in paragraph 1 for all or part of the proceedings may be authorized;

(b) at the request of one of the parties, and after the opposite party and the Advocate-General have been heard, the use of another of the languages mentioned in paragraph 1 as the language of the case for all or part of the proceedings may be authorized by way of derogation from subparagraph (a).

Requests as above may be decided on by the President; the latter may and, where he proposes to accede to a request without the agreement of all the parties, must refer the request to the Court of First Instance.`

5. The following sentence shall be added to Article 50: 'The President may refer those matters to the Court of First Instance`.

6. Article 78 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 78

The decision to stay the proceedings shall be made by order of the President after hearing the parties and the Advocate-General; the President may refer the matter to the Court of First Instance. A decision ordering that the proceedings be resumed shall be adopted in accordance with the same procedure. The orders referred to in this Article shall be served on the parties.`

7. There shall be inserted in the first subparagraph of Article 87 (5), at the end of the first sentence, instead of the words 'in the other party's pleadings`, the words 'in the observations of the other party on the discontinuance`.

In the English version of Article 87 (5) the third subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: 'If costs are not applied for, the parties shall bear their own costs`.

In the Irish version of Article 87 (5) the third subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: 'Mura n-iarrfar costais, íocfaidh na páirtithe a gcostais féin`.

8. The third and fourth subparagraphs of Article 94 (2) shall be replaced by the following:

'The President shall, after considering the written observations of the opposite party, decide whether legal aid should be granted in full or in part, or whether it should be refused. He shall consider whether there is manifestly no cause of action. He may refer the matter to the Court of First Instance.

The Decision shall be taken by way of an order without giving reasons, and no appeal shall lie therefrom.`

9. The following paragraph shall be added to Article 95:

'4. An order granting legal aid may specify an amount to be paid to the lawyer appointed to act for the person concerned or fix a limit which the lawyer's disbursements and fees may not, in principle, exceed.`

10. In Article 97 (2) the words 'the Court of First Instance` shall be replaced by the words 'the President, who may refer the matter to the Court of First Instance,`; the words 'the President` shall be replaced by the word 'he`.

11. Article 102 (1) shall be replaced by the following:

'1. Where the period of time allowed for commencing proceedings against a measure adopted by an institution runs from the publication of that measure, that period shall be calculated, for the purposes of Article 101 (1), from the end of the 14th day after publication thereof in the Official Journal of the European Communities.`

12. In Article 111, after the words 'manifestly inadmissible`, the words 'or manifestly lacking any foundation in law` shall be inserted.

13. Article 113 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 113

The Court of First Instance may at any time, of its own motion, consider whether there exists any absolute bar to proceeding with an action or declare, after hearing the parties, that the action has become devoid of purpose and that there is no need to adjudicate on it; it shall give its decision in accordance with Article 114 (3) and (4).`

14. In the second subparagraph of Article 122 (1) the second sentence shall be replaced by the sentence 'the Court of First Instance may decide to open the oral procedure on the application`.

Article 2

These amendments, which are authentic in the languages mentioned in Article 35 (1), shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. They shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following their publication.

Adopted at Luxembourg on 12 March 1997.

Registrar

H. JUNG

President

A. SAGGIO