Amendments to the Rules of procedure of the Court of Justice of 28 November 2000
Date: 2000-11-28
Institutions: Court of Justice of the European Union
Subjects: administrative formalities, administrative procedure, judicial proceedings

19.12.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 322/1

COURT OF JUSTICE

AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE

of 28 November 2000

THE COURT,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS TO ITS RULES OF
PROCEDURE:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular the third paragraph of Article
245 thereof,

Article 1

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

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, and in particular the third paragraph of
Article 160 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

In certain particularly urgent cases, the Court should be
able to give its ruling with the minimum of delay, and
provision should be made for an expedited procedure in
such cases.

In order to reduce the length of proceedings in direct
actions,
intervention should be
for
shortened.

time-limit

the

In order to adapt communications between the Court
and the parties and other persons concerned to modern
communication technology, rules should be laid down
telefaxes
regarding the use of,
for
and consequential
the
amendments
to the provisions
concerning extensions, on account of distance, of
prescribed time-limits.

transmission of documents
should be made

in particular,

(4)

It is necessary, in the light of experience, to clarify the
wording of the provision relating to the lodging of a
reply and a rejoinder in appeal proceedings,

With the unanimous approval of the Council given on 16
November 2000,

The Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European
Communities adopted on 19 June 1991 (1), as amended on
21 February 1995 (2), 11 March 1997 (3) and 16 May 2000 (4),
shall be amended as follows:

1) The following paragraph shall be added to Article 37:

(cid:145)6. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraphs
1 to 5, the date on which a copy of the signed original
of a pleading,
including the schedule of documents
referred to in paragraph 4, is received at the Registry by
technical means of communication
telefax or other
available to the Court shall be deemed to be the date of
lodgment
the purposes of compliance with the
time-limits for taking steps in proceedings, provided that
the signed original of the pleading, accompanied by the
second
to
referred
copies
annexes
subparagraph of paragraph 1 above,
the
Registry no later than ten days thereafter.(cid:146)

the
in
is lodged at

and

for

2) The following subparagraph shall be inserted in Article

38(2) as the second subparagraph:

(cid:145)In addition to, or instead of, specifying an address for
service as referred to in the first subparagraph,
the
application may state that the lawyer or agent agrees that
service is to be effected on him by telefax or other
technical means of communication.(cid:146),

and the present second subparagraph shall become the
third subparagraph.

the words

third subparagraph,

In the
(cid:145)with these
requirements(cid:146) shall be replaced by the words (cid:145)with the
and second
requirements
subparagraphs(cid:146), and (cid:145)(1)(cid:146) shall be inserted immediately
after (cid:145)Article 79(cid:146).

referred to in the

first

(1) OJ L 176, 4.7.1991, p. 7, with corrigendum (OJ L 383, 29.12.1992,

p. 117).

(2) OJ L 44, 28.2.1995, p. 61.
(3) OJ L 103, 19.4.1997, p. 1, with corrigendum (OJ L 351, 23.12.1997,

p. 72).

(4) OJ L 122, 24.5.2000, p. 43.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

19.12.2000

3) Article 44 shall be replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Article 44

An application for a case to be decided under an
separate
expedited procedure
document lodged at the same time as the application
initiating the proceedings or the defence, as the case
may be.

shall be made by a

The President

fix a date on which the
1.
Judge-Rapporteur is to present his preliminary report to
the Court, either

shall

(a) after the rejoinder has been lodged, or

(b) where no reply or no rejoinder has been lodged
within the time-limit fixed in accordance with Article
41(2), or

(c) where the party concerned has waived his right to

lodge a reply or rejoinder, or

(d) where the expedited procedure referred to in Article
62a is to be applied, when the President fixes a date
for the hearing.

The

shall

report

preliminary

2.
contain
recommendations as to whether a preparatory inquiry or
any other preparatory step should be undertaken and
whether the case should be referred to a Chamber. It shall
if
also contain the Judge-Rapporteur’s recommendation,
any, as to the possible omission of the oral part of the
procedure as provided for in Article 44a.

shall decide, after hearing the Advocate
The Court
General, what action to take upon the recommendations
of the Judge-Rapporteur.

3. Where the Court orders a preparatory inquiry and
does not undertake it itself, it shall assign the inquiry to
the Chamber.

Where the Court decides to open the oral procedure
without an inquiry, the President shall fix the opening
date.(cid:146)

4) The following shall be inserted after Article 62:

(cid:145)CHAPTER 3a

EXPEDITED PROCEDURES

Article 62a

1.
On application by the applicant or the defendant,
the President may exceptionally decide, on the basis of a
recommendation by the Judge-Rapporteur and after
hearing the other party and the Advocate General, that a
case is
to an expedited
procedure derogating from the provisions of these Rules,
where the particular urgency of the case requires the
Court to give its ruling with the minimum of delay.

to be determined pursuant

Under

the expedited procedure,

2.
the originating
application and the defence may be supplemented by a
reply and a rejoinder only if the President considers this
to be necessary.

An intervener may lodge a statement in intervention only
if the President considers this to be necessary.

if

Once the defence has been lodged or,

3.
the
decision to adjudicate under an expedited procedure is
not made until after that pleading has been lodged, once
that decision has been taken, the President shall fix a date
for the hearing, which shall be communicated forthwith
to the parties. He may postpone the date of the hearing
where the organisation of measures of
inquiry or of
other preparatory measures so requires.

Without prejudice
the parties may
to Article 42,
supplement their arguments and offer further evidence in
the course of the oral procedure. They must, however,
give reasons
the delay in offering such further
evidence.

for

The Court shall give its ruling after hearing the

4.
Advocate General.(cid:146)

5. The present wording of Article 79 shall become Article

79(1) and the following paragraph shall be added:

in

the

with

accordance

(cid:145)2. Where,
second
subparagraph of Article 38(2), the addressee has agreed
that service is to be effected on him by telefax or other
technical means of
any procedural
document other than a judgment or order of the Court
may be served by the transmission of a copy of the
document by such means.

communication,

the document

the document,
impracticable,

Where, for technical reasons or on account of the nature
or
such transmission is
length of
shall be
impossible or
served, if the addressee has failed to state an address for
service, at his address in accordance with the procedures
laid down in paragraph 1 of this article. The addressee
shall be so advised by telefax or other technical means of
communication. Service shall then be deemed to have
been effected on the addressee by registered post on the
tenth day following the lodging of the registered letter at
the post office of the place where the Court has its seat,
unless it is shown by the acknowledgement of receipt
that the letter was received on a different date or the
addressee informs the Registrar, within three weeks of
being advised by telefax or other technical means of
communication, that the document to be served has not
reached him.(cid:146)

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6) Article 81(2) shall be replaced by the following:

The prescribed time-limits shall be extended on

(cid:145)2.
account of distance by a single period of ten days.(cid:146)

7) Article 93 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the words
(cid:145)three months(cid:146) shall be replaced by the words (cid:145)six
weeks(cid:146);

(b) the following paragraph shall be added:

Consideration may be given to an application
(cid:145)7.
to intervene which is made after the expiry of the
period prescribed in paragraph 1 but before the
decision to open the oral procedure provided for in
Article 44(3). In that event, if the President allows the
intervention, the intervener may, on the basis of the
Report for the Hearing communicated to him, submit
his observations during the oral procedure,
if that
procedure takes place.(cid:146).

8) The second subparagraph of Article 115(2) shall be

replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Article 37 and Article 38(2) and (3) of these Rules shall
apply.(cid:146)

9) Article 117 shall be amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

The

appeal

(cid:145)1.
be
supplemented by a reply and a rejoinder where the
President, on application made by the appellant

response may

and

the

the

service of

such further pleading necessary

within seven days of
response,
and
considers
expressly allows the submission of a reply in order to
enable the appellant to put forward his point of view
or in order to provide a basis for the decision on the
appeal. The President shall prescribe the date by
which the reply is to be submitted and, upon service
of that pleading, the date by which the rejoinder is to
be submitted.(cid:146)

(b) paragraph 3 shall be repealed.

10) Article 121 shall be replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Article 121

The report referred to in Article 44(2) shall be presented
to the Court after the pleadings provided for in Article
115(1) and, where appropriate, Article 117(1) and (2)
have been lodged. Where no such pleadings are lodged,
the same procedure shall apply after the expiry of the
period prescribed for lodging them.(cid:146)

Article 2

These amendments to the Rules of Procedure, which are
authentic in the languages mentioned in Article 29(1) of these
Rules, 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.

Done at Luxembourg, 28 November 2000.