Court of Justice - Practice directions relating to direct actions and appeals
Date: 2003-03-25
Institutions: Court of Justice of the European Union
Subjects: appeal, document, electronic document management, information processing, judicial investigation, judicial proceedings, legal hearing

16.4.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 98/9

COURT OF JUSTICE

PRACTICE DIRECTIONS

relating to direct actions and appeals

THE COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

— as an attachment to an electronic mail (e-mail address:

ecj.registry@curia.eu.int).

Pursuant to Article 125a of its Rules of Procedure,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

It is in the interest of the efficient conduct of proceed-
ings in direct actions and appeals that practice directions
should be issued to agents and lawyers representing
parties before the Court, dealing with the submission of
pleadings and the preparation and conduct of hearings.

The present directions reflect, explain and complement
provisions in the Rules of Procedure and are designed to
enable agents and lawyers
the
constraints under which the Court operates, particularly
as regards the electronic processing of procedural docu-
mentation and translation and interpretation require-
ments.

to take account of

The Rules of Procedure and the Instructions to the Regis-
trar require the Registrar to receive procedural docu-
ments, to ensure that they comply with the provisions
of the Rules of Procedure and to assist the Court and
Chambers, in particular in the organisation of hearings.
In carrying out his duties, the Registrar must satisfy
himself that the agents and lawyers comply with these
practice directions, requiring them to make good any
irregularities of form in documents lodged which do not
comply with those provisions or requesting the agent or
lawyer concerned to comply therewith.

The views of representatives of the agents of the Member
States and the institutions acting in proceedings before
the Court, and of the Council of the Bars and Law Socie-
ties of
the European Community (CCBE), have been
heard on the drafting of these practice directions.

2. Where transmission is by electronic mail, only a scanned
copy of the signed original will be accepted. An ordinary
electronic file or one bearing an electronic signature or a
computer-generated facsimile signature will not be treated
as complying with Article 37(6) of the Rules of Procedure.

Documents should be scanned at a resolution of 300 DPI
and, wherever possible, in PDF format (images plus text),
using Acrobat or Readiris 7 Pro software.

3. A document lodged by telefax or electronic mail will be
treated as complying with the relevant time-limit only if
the signed original
itself reaches the Registry within 10
days following such lodgment, as specified in Article 37(6)
of the Rules of Procedure. The signed original must be sent
without delay, immediately after the despatch of the copy,
without any corrections or amendments, even of a minor
nature. In the event of any discrepancy between the signed
original and the copy previously lodged, only the date of
lodgment of the signed original will be taken into consid-
eration.

4. Where, in accordance with Article 38(2) of the Rules of
Procedure, a party agrees to be notified by telefax or other
technical means of communication, the statement to that
effect must specify the telefax number and/or the elec-
tronic mail address to which the Registry may send that
party documents to be served. The recipient's computer
must be equipped with suitable software (for example,
Acrobat or Readiris 7 Pro) for reception and display of
communications from the Registry, which will be trans-
mitted in PDF format.

HEREBY ADOPTS THE FOLLOWING PRACTICE DIRECTIONS:

PRESENTATION OF PLEADINGS

USE OF TECHNICAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

1. A copy of the signed original of a procedural document
may be transmitted to the Registry in accordance with
Article 37(6) of the Rules of Procedure either:

— by telefax (to fax number: (352) 43 37 66), or

5. Pleadings and other procedural documents lodged (*), by
the parties must be submitted in a form which can be
processed electronically by the Court, in particular by scan-
ning and character recognition.

(*) The Court's postal address is:

Court of Justice of the European Communities
L-2925 Luxembourg

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For that purpose,
complied with:

the following requirements must be

FORM AND CONTENT OF THE PRINCIPAL TYPES OF
PLEADING

1. the paper must be white, unlined and A4 size, with text

on one side of the page only;

Application initiating proceedings

2. pages of pleadings and annexes,

if any, must be
assembled in such a way as to be easily separable. They
must not be bound together or permanently attached
by means such as glue or staples;

3. the text must be in a commonly-used font (such as
Times New Roman, Courier or Arial), in at least 12 pt
in the body of the text and at least 10 pt in the foot-
notes, with one-and-a-half
line spacing and upper,
lower, left and right margins of at least 2,5 cm;

4. the pages of the pleading must be numbered consecu-
tively in the top right-hand corner. That numbering
must also cover all the pages of any annexes to the
pleading, so as to make it possible to check that all the
pages of the annexes have been duly scanned.

6. The following information must appear on the first page

of the pleading:

1. the title of the pleading (application, appeal, defence,
response, reply, rejoinder, application for leave to inter-
vene, statement in intervention, observations on the
statement in intervention, objection of inadmissibility,
etc.).

Where a response seeks an order setting aside in whole
or in part the decision of the Court of First Instance on
a plea in law not raised in the appeal, the title of the
pleading must indicate that the document is a response
and cross-appeal;

2. the case number (C-.../...), if it has already been notified

by the Registry;

3. the names of the applicant (appellant) and defendant
(respondent) and, in appeals, the identification of the
decision under appeal and the parties before the Court
of First Instance;

9. An application must contain the statements prescribed by

Article 38(1) and (2) of the Rules of Procedure.

10. The following must appear at the beginning of each appli-

cation:

1. the applicant's name and address;

2. the name and capacity of

the applicant's agent or

lawyer;

3. the identity of the party or parties against whom the

action is brought;

4. the statements referred to in Article 38(2) of the Rules
of Procedure (address for service in Luxembourg and/or
agreement to service by telefax or any other technical
means of communication).

11. In the case of an application for annulment, a copy of the
contested measure must be annexed to the application and
identified as such.

12. Each application should be accompanied by a summary of
the pleas in law and main arguments relied on, intended to
facilitate publication in the Official Journal of the notice
prescribed by Article 16(6) of the Rules of Procedure,
which will be prepared by the Registry. The summary in
question must not be more than two pages long.

13. The precise wording of the forms of order sought by the
applicant must be specified either at the beginning or the
end of the application.

14. The introductory part of the application must be followed
by a brief account of the facts giving rise to the dispute.

15. The structure of the legal argument must reflect the pleas
in law relied upon. After the account of the facts giving
rise to the dispute, a summary outline of those pleas in
law should be given.

Defence

4. the name of the party on whose behalf the pleading is

lodged.

16. The defence must contain the statements prescribed by

Article 40(1) of the Rules of Procedure.

7. Each paragraph of the pleading must be numbered.

17. In addition to the case-number and the applicant's name,
the beginning of each

the following must appear at
defence:

1. the defendant's name and address;

8. The signature of the agent or lawyer acting for the party

2. the name and capacity of

the defendant's agent or

concerned must appear at the end of the pleading.

lawyer;

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3. an address for service in Luxembourg and/or agreement
to service by telefax or other
technical means of
communication (second subparagraph of Article 40(1)
of the Rules of Procedure).

26. It is not generally necessary to set out the background to
it will be sufficient to

the dispute or its subject-matter;
refer to the decision of the Court of First Instance.

18. The precise wording of the forms of order sought by the
defendant must be specified either at the beginning or at
the end of the defence.

27. The structure of

the legal arguments must reflect

the
grounds, in particular errors of law, relied upon in support
of the appeal. A summary outline of those grounds should
be given at the beginning of the appeal.

19. The structure of the legal argument must, so far as is
possible, reflect that of the pleas in law put forward in the
application.

Response

20. If any fact alleged by the other party is contested it must
be clearly indicated and the basis on which it is challenged
must be stated explicitly.

Appeal

21. An appeal must contain the statements prescribed by

Article 112(1) of the Rules of Procedure.

28. A response must contain the statements prescribed by

Article 115(1) of the Rules of Procedure.

29. The following must appear at

the beginning of each

response:

1. the name and address of the party lodging it;

2. the name and capacity of the agent or lawyer acting for

that party;

3. the date on which notice of the appeal was served on

the party;

22. The following must appear at

the beginning of each

appeal:

4. an address for service and/or agreement to service by
telefax or any other technical means of communication.

1. the appellant's name and address;

2. the name and capacity of

the appellant's agent or

lawyer;

3. the identification of the decision of the Court of First
Instance appealed against (type of decision, formation
of the Court, date and number of the case) and the
names of the parties before the Court of First Instance;

4. the date on which the decision of the Court of First

Instance was notified to the appellant;

5. an address for service in Luxembourg and/or agreement
technical means of

to service by telefax or other
communication.

23. A copy of the decision of the Court of First Instance

appealed against must be annexed to the appeal.

24. The appeal should be accompanied by a summary of the
grounds of appeal and main arguments relied on, intended
to facilitate publication in the Official Journal of the notice
prescribed by Article 16(6) of the Rules of Procedure,
which will be prepared by the Registry. The summary in
question must not be more than two pages long.

25. The precise wording of the forms of order sought by the
appellant must be specified either at the beginning or at
the end of the appeal (Article 113(1) of Rules of Proce-
dure).

30. The precise wording of the forms of order sought by the
party lodging the response must be specified either at the
beginning or at the end of the response.

31. If the response seeks an order setting aside, in whole or in
part, the decision of the Court of First Instance on a plea
in law not raised in the appeal, that fact must be indicated
in the title of the pleading (Response and Cross-appeal).

32. The structure of the legal arguments must, so far as is
possible, reflect the grounds of appeal put forward by the
appellant and/or, as appropriate, the grounds put forward
by way of cross-appeal.

ANNEXES TO PLEADINGS

33. Only documents mentioned in the actual text of a pleading
and necessary in order to prove or illustrate its contents
may be submitted as annexes.

34. Annexes will be accepted only if they are accompanied by
a schedule of annexes (Article 37(4) of the Rules of Proce-
dure). That schedule must
indicate for each document
annexed:

1. the number of the annex;

2. a short description of

‘letter’,
followed by its date, author and addressee and its
number of pages);

the document

(e.g.

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3. a reference to the page and paragraph in the pleading
at which the document is mentioned and from which
the need to produce it is apparent.

APPLICATIONS FOR LEAVE TO LODGE A REPLY IN
APPEAL PROCEEDINGS

35. If, for the convenience of the Court, copies of judgments,
legal writings or legislation are annexed to a pleading, they
must be separate from the other annexes.

41. The President may, on application, allow a reply to be
lodged if it is necessary in order to enable the appellant to
defend its point of view or in order to provide a basis for
the decision on the appeal.

36. Each reference to a document lodged must state the rele-
vant annex number as given in the schedule of annexes in
which it appears and indicate the pleading to which it is
annexed. In appeal proceedings, where the document has
already been produced before the Court of First Instance,
the identification used for that document before the Court
of First Instance must also be given.

Save in exceptional circumstances such an application
must not exceed two to three pages and must be confined
to summarising the precise reasons for which,
in the
appellant's opinion, a reply is necessary. The request must
be comprehensible in itself without any need to refer to
the appeal or the response.

DRAFTING AND LENGTH OF PLEADINGS

APPLICATIONS FOR HEARING OF ORAL ARGUMENT

37. With a view to avoiding delay in proceedings, when
drafting pleadings the following points in particular must
be taken into consideration:

42. The Court may decide not to hear oral argument where
none of the parties has applied to be heard (Articles 44a
and 120 of the Rules of Procedure). In practice, it is rare
for a hearing to be organised in the absence of such an
application.

— the case is examined on the basis of the pleadings; in
order to facilitate that examination, documents must
be structured and concise and must avoid repetition,

— pleadings must, as a general rule, be translated; in order
to facilitate translation and to make it as accurate as
possible sentences should be simple in structure and
vocabulary should be simple and precise,

— the time needed for translation and for examination of
the case-file is proportionate to the length of the plead-
ings lodged, so that
the
swifter the disposal of the case.

the shorter the pleadings,

38. It

is the Court's experience that, save in exceptional
circumstances, effective pleadings need not exceed 10 or
15 pages and replies, rejoinders and responses can be
limited to five to 10 pages.

APPLICATIONS FOR EXPEDITED PROCEDURE

39. A party applying by separate document under Article 62a
of the Rules of Procedure for a case to be decided by the
Court by expedited procedure must briefly state the
reasons for the special urgency of the case. Save in excep-
tional circumstances, that application must not exceed five
pages.

40. As the expedited procedure is largely oral, the pleading of
the party requesting it must be confined essentially to a
summary of the pleas relied upon. Such pleadings must
not, save in exceptional circumstances, exceed 10 pages.

The application must specify why the party wishes to be
heard. That reasoning must be based on a real assessment
of the benefit of a hearing to the party in question and
indicate the documentary elements or arguments
must
which that party considers it necessary to develop or
disprove more fully at a hearing. It is not sufficient to
provide a general statement of reasons referring to the
importance of the case or of the questions to be decided.

PREPARATION AND CONDUCT OF HEARINGS

43. Before the hearing begins the agents or lawyers are called
to a short meeting with the relevant formation of the
in order to plan the hearing. At that point the
Court,
Judge-Rapporteur and the Advocate General may indicate
the matters they wish to hear developed in the arguments.

44. Oral argument is limited to 30 minutes maximum before
the full Court, the Grand Chamber or a chamber of five
Judges (Fifth and Sixth Chambers) and to 15 minutes
maximum before a chamber of three Judges (First, Second,
Third and Fourth Chambers). Before any formation the
presentation of an intervener's argument is limited to 15
minutes maximum.

Speaking time may exceptionally be extended beyond
those limits on application made to the President of the
formation concerned together with a detailed statement of
reasons. The application must reach the Court as soon as
possible and, in order to be taken into consideration, at
the latest two weeks before the date of the hearing.

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The notification of the hearing asks the agents and lawyers
to inform the Registry of the likely duration of their oral
arguments. The information supplied is used in the plan-
ning of the business of the Court and the Chambers, and it
is not possible to exceed the speaking time requested.

46. Very frequently the Judges and Advocate General will listen
to oral argument via simultaneous interpretation. In order
to facilitate that interpretation, agents and lawyers should
speak at an unforced pace and use short sentences of
simple structure.

45. Having read the written pleadings,

the Judges and the
Advocate General are already familiar with the case,
its
subject-matter and the pleas in law and arguments put
forward by the parties. The purpose of oral argument is
not to present a party's point of view afresh but to clarify
any matters which the agent or lawyer regards as particu-
larly important, especially those referred to in the applica-
tion for a hearing (see paragraph 42 above). Repetition of
what has already been stated in the written pleadings is to
if necessary, a reference to the pleadings
be avoided;
during the course of the oral argument will suffice.

It is inadvisable to read out a text prepared in advance. It
is preferable to speak on the basis of properly structured
notes. If the oral argument is, nevertheless, prepared in
writing, account should be taken in drafting the text of the
fact that it is to be delivered orally and ought therefore to
come as close as possible to oral exposition. To facilitate
interpretation, agents and lawyers are requested to send
the text or written outline of their oral argument by fax in
advance to the Interpretation Division (fax (352) 43 03 36
97).

Oral submissions should begin by outlining the plan to be
followed.

Done at Luxembourg, 25 March 2003.