AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

THE COURT,

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

Having regard to the third paragraph of Article 188 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Article 55 of the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community,

Having regard to the third paragraph of Article 160 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,

Whereas, in the light of experience, certain amendments should be made to the Rules of Procedure,

Whereas, following the accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden, certain adjustments to the Rules of Procedure are necessary,

With the unanimous consent of the Council, given on 17 February 1997,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS TO ITS RULES OF PROCEDURE:

Article 1

The Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, adopted on 19 June 1991 (OJ No L 176 of 4 July 1991, p. 1, and Corrigendum in OJ No L 383 of 29 December 1992, p. 117) as amended on 21 February 1995 (OJ No L 44 of 28 February 1995, p. 61), are hereby amended as follows:

1. In Article 26 paragraphs (2) and (3) shall be replaced by the following:

'2. If, after the Court has been convened, it is found that the quorum referred to in Article 15 of the EC Statute, Article 18 of the ECSC Statute and Article 15 of the Euratom Statute has not been attained, the President shall adjourn the sitting until there is a quorum.

3. If, in any Chamber, the quorum referred to in Article 15 of the EC Statute, Article 18 of the ECSC Statute and Article 15 of the Euratom Statute has not been attained, the President of that Chamber shall so inform the President of the Court, who shall designate another Judge to complete the Chamber.`

2. Article 29 (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.`

3. Article 29 (2) shall be replaced by the following:

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

(a) where the defendant is a Member State or a natural or legal person having the nationality of a Member State, the language of the case shall be the official language of that State; where that State has more than one official language, the applicant may choose between them;

(b) 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;

(c) 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 subparagraphs (a) and (b).

In cases to which Article 103 of these Rules applies, the language of the case shall be the language of the national court or tribunal which refers the matter to the Court. At the duly substantiated request of one of the parties to the main proceedings, and after the opposite party and the Advocate-General have been heard, the use of another of the languages mentioned in paragraph 1 may be authorized for the oral procedure.

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

4. The following sentence shall be added to Article 43: 'The President may refer these matters to the Court.`

5. In the first subparagraph of Article 69 (5), in the first sentence, after the words 'in the other party's`, the words 'observations on the discontinuance` shall be inserted.

In the English version of these Rules the third subparagraph of Article 69 (5) shall be replaced by the following: 'If costs are not applied for, the parties shall bear their own costs.`

6. Article 81 (1) shall be replaced by the following:

'1. Where the period of time allowed for initiating 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 80 (1) (a), from the end of the 14th day after publication thereof in the Official Journal of the European Communities.`

7. Article 92 (2) shall be replaced by the following:

'2. The Court may at any time of its own motion consider whether there exists any absolute bar to proceeding with a case 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 91 (3) and (4) of these Rules.`

8. In the second subparagraph of Article 94 (1) the second sentence shall be replaced by the following: 'The Court may decide to open the oral procedure on the application.`

9. In Article 107 (1) the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following:

'A request by the Council for an opinion pursuant to Article 228 of the EC Treaty shall be served on the Commission and on the European Parliament. Such a request by the Commission shall be served on the Council, on the European Parliament and on the Member States. Such a request by a Member State shall be served on the Council, on the European Parliament and on the Member States. Such a request by a Member State shall be served on the Council, on the Commission, on the European Parliament and the other Member States.`

10. Article 108 (3) shall be replaced by the following:

'3. The opinion, signed by the President, by the Judges who took part in the deliberations and by the Registrar, shall be served on the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States.`

11. Article 123 shall be replaced by the following:

'Article 123

An application to intervene made to the Court in appeal proceedings shall be lodged before the expiry of a period of one month running from the publication referred to in Article 16 (6).`

Article 2

These amendments to the Rules of Procedure, which are authentic in the languages mentioned in Article 29 (1), shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities and shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following their publication.

Adopted at Luxembourg on 11 March 1997.