Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance following the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice
Date: 2003-06-14
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: Court of Justice of the European Union, European treaties, administrative procedure, amendment of a law, operation of the Institutions

L 147/22

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Official Journal of the European Union

14.6.2003

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
FOLLOWING THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE TREATY OF NICE

THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, in particular the fifth paragraph of Article 224,

for that purpose a transitional provision is required post-
poning the first election for a period of three years until
the expiry of the first period of partial renewal,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, in particular the fifth paragraph of Article
140,

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS TO ITS RULES OF
PROCEDURE:

Having regard to Article 63 of the Protocol on the Statute of
the Court of Justice,

Article 1

Having regard to the agreement of the Court of Justice,

Having regard to the approval of the Council given on 8 April
2003,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Nice
amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties
establishing the European Communities and certain
related acts and of the new Protocol on the Statute of
the Court of Justice, and the expiry of the Treaty estab-
it is
lishing the European Coal and Steel Community,
necessary to make certain formal adjustments to the
provisions of
to amend the
the Rules of Procedure,
provisions on the election of the Presidents of Chambers
in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 50 of
the Statute of the Court of Justice and to provide for the
possibility of the Court of First Instance sitting as Grand
Chamber, as laid down in the third paragraph of Article
50 of the Statute of the Court of Justice.

Account must be taken of the need to ensure consis-
tency in the case law, given the increased number of
Chambers following enlargement, and to confer on the
judge hearing an application for interim measures the
jurisdiction of the President of the Court of First Instance
in interim proceedings when the President is absent or
prevented from attending.

The election of Presidents of Chambers composed of five
Judges for a period of three years should take place at
the same time as the election of the President of the
Court of First Instance and the partial renewal of the
Members of the Court of First Instance pursuant to the
second paragraph of Article 224 of the EC Treaty, and

The Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities of 2 May 1991 (OJ L 136 of 30 May
1991, p. 1), amended on 15 September 1994 (OJ L 249 of 24
September 1994, p. 17), 17 February 1995 (OJ L 44 of 28
February 1995, p. 64), 6 July 1995 (OJ L 172 of 22 July 1995,
p. 3), 12 March 1997 (OJ L 103 of 19 April 1997, p. 6, with
corrigendum OJ L 351 of 23 December 1997, p. 72), 17 May
1999 (OJ L 135 of 29 May 1999, p. 92) and 6 December
2000 (OJ L 322 of 19 December 2000, p. 4) are amended as
follows:

1. The first paragraph of Article 1 shall be replaced by the

following text:

‘In these Rules:

— “EC Treaty” means the Treaty establishing the European

Community,

— “EAEC Treaty” means

the Treaty establishing the

European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom),

— “Statute of the Court of Justice” means the Protocol on

the Statute of the Court of Justice,

— “EEA Agreement” means
European Economic Area.’

the Agreement on the

2. The references to the Protocols on the Statute of the Court

of Justice shall be adjusted as follows:

(a) in Article 7(19), the words ‘Article 32(d) of the ECSC

Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(b) in Article 14(2)(1)(b), the words ‘to the second para-
graph of Article 33, Article 35 and the first and
second paragraphs of Article 40 of the ECSC Treaty’
and in Article 14(2)(1)(c) the words ‘Article 42 of the
ECSC Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(c) in Article 24(7), the words ‘the third paragraph of

Article 36 of the ECSC Treaty’ shall be deleted;

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(d) in Article 42, the words ‘Article 17 of the EC Statute,
Article 20 of the ECSC Statute and Article 17 of the
EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by the words ‘Article
19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice’ and in Article
115(3), the words ‘Article 17 of the EC Statute, the
first and second paragraphs of Article 20 of the ECSC
Statute and Article 17 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be
replaced by the words ‘Article 19 of the Statute of the
Court of Justice’;

(e) in Article 44(1),

the words ‘Article 19 of

the EC
Statute, Article 22 of the ECSC Statute and Article 19
of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by the words
‘Article 21 of the Statute of the Court of Justice’ and
in Article 44(4) the words ‘the second paragraph of
Article 19 of the EC Statute, the second paragraph of
Article 22 of the ECSC Statute and the second para-
graph of Article 19 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be
replaced by the words ‘the second paragraph of Article
21 of the Statute of the Court of Justice’;

(f) in Article 44(5)(a), the words ‘Article 42 of the ECSC

Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(g) in Article 65, the words ‘Articles 21 and 22 of the EC
Statute, Articles 24 and 25 of the ECSC Statute and
Articles 22 and 23 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be
replaced by the words ‘Articles 24 and 25 of the
Statute of the Court of Justice’;

(h) in Article 69(4), the words ‘Articles 44 and 92 of the

ECSC Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(i) in Articles 77 and 80, the words ‘the third paragraph
of Article 47 of the EC Statute, the third paragraph of
Article 47 of the ECSC Statute and the third paragraph
of Article 48 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by
the words ‘the third paragraph of Article 54 of the
Statute of the Court of Justice’;

(j) in Article 83, the words ‘the second paragraph of
Article 53 of the EC Statute, the second paragraph of
the ECSC Statute and the second paragraph of Article
54 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by the words
‘Article 60 of the Statute of the Court of Justice’;

(k) in the second paragraph of Article 98, the words ‘Arti-
cles 33 and 35 of the ECSC Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(l) in Article 101(1), the word ‘ECSC’ shall be deleted and
the word ‘Statutes’ shall be replaced by the word
‘Statute’;

(m) in Article 104(1), the words ‘the second paragraph of
Article 39 of the ECSC Treaty’ and the words ‘the
third paragraph of Article 39 of the ECSC Treaty’ shall
be deleted;

(n) in Article 110, the words ‘Articles 44 and 92 of the

ECSC Treaty’ shall be deleted;

(o) in Article 112, the words ‘the second paragraph of
Article 47 of the EC Statute, the second paragraph of
Article 47 of the ECSC Statute and the second para-
graph of Article 48 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be
replaced by the words ‘the second paragraph of Article
54 of the Statute of the Court of Justice’;

(p) in Article 115(2)(f), the words ‘the second or third
paragraph of Article 37 of the EC Statute, Article 34
of the ECSC Statute or the second paragraph of Article

38 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by the words
‘second or third paragraph of Article 40 of the Statute
in Article 115(3), the
of the Court of Justice’ and,
words ‘Article 17 of the EC Statute,
the first and
second paragraphs of Article 20 of the ECSC Statute
and Article 17 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced
by the words ‘Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of
Justice’;

(q) in Article 125,

the words ‘the third paragraph of
Article 41 of the EC Statute, the third paragraph of
Article 38 of the ECSC Statute and the third paragraph
of Article 42 of the EAEC Statute’ shall be replaced by
the words ‘in the third paragraph of Article 44 of the
Statute of the Court of Justice’.

3. The words ‘Official Journal of the European Communities’ shall
be replaced by the words ‘Official Journal of the European
Union’
in Articles 10(2), 12, second paragraph, 24(6),
32(1), second subparagraph, 101(2), second subparagraph,
102(1), 123(1), third subparagraph, and 137.

4. To Article 8 there shall be added the following new second

and third paragraphs:

‘The President of the Court of First Instance shall preside
over the Grand Chamber.

If the President of the Court of First Instance is assigned to
a Chamber of three or of five Judges, he shall preside over
that Chamber.’

5. The text of Article 10(1) shall be replaced by the following

text:

‘The Court of First Instance shall set up Chambers of three
and of five Judges and a Grand Chamber of 11 Judges and
shall decide which Judges shall be assigned to them.’

In Article 10(2) the words ‘The composition of the Cham-
bers’ shall be replaced by the words ‘The decision taken in
accordance with this article’.

6. In the first subparagraph of Article 11(1), after the words
‘by Chambers composed’ there shall be inserted the words
‘of three or of five Judges’. In the second subparagraph of
Article 11(1), after the words ‘plenary session’ there shall
be inserted the words ‘or by the Grand Chamber’.

7. In Article 14(1), after the words ‘to the Court of First
Instance sitting in plenary session’ there shall be inserted
‘to the Grand Chamber’.

8. The text of Article 15 shall be replaced by the following

text:

The Judges shall elect

‘1.
themselves,
pursuant to the provisions of Article 7(3), the Presidents of
the Chambers composed of three and of five Judges.

from amongst

2.
The Presidents of Chambers of five Judges shall be
elected for a term of three years. Their term of office shall
be renewable once.

The election of the Presidents of Chambers of five Judges
shall take place immediately after the election of the Presi-
dent of the Court of First Instance as provided for in
Article 7(1).

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Official Journal of the European Union

14.6.2003

The Presidents of Chambers of three Judges shall be

3.
elected for a defined term.

If

the office of

4.
the President of a Chamber falls
vacant before the normal date of expiry thereof, a
successor shall be elected as President of the Chamber for
the remainder of the term.

The result of those elections shall be published in the

5.
Official Journal of the European Union.’

9. In Article 32(2), after the words ‘the quorum’ the words ‘of

nine Judges’ shall be deleted.

In Article 32(3), after the words ‘in any Chamber’ there
shall be added the words ‘composed of three or of five
Judges’. The new following second subparagraph shall be
added to Article 32(3):

‘The quorum of the Grand Chamber shall be nine Judges.
If that quorum has not been attained, the President of the
Court of First Instance shall designate another Judge to
complete the Chamber.’

10. In the first subparagraph of Article 51(1), after the words
‘the Chamber hearing the case’ there shall be inserted the
words ‘or the President of the Court of First Instance’ and
after the words ‘referred to the Court of First Instance
sitting in plenary session’ there shall be inserted ‘to the
Grand Chamber’.

In the second subparagraph of Article 51(1), the words
‘maintained before or referred to a Chamber composed of’
shall be replaced by the words ‘decided by a Chamber
composed of at least’.

12. The three paragraphs of Article 106 shall be replaced by

the following single paragraph:
‘A Judge, designated for the purpose in the decision
adopted by the Court of First Instance in accordance with
Article 10, shall replace the President of the Court of First
Instance in deciding an application in the event that the
President is absent or prevented from dealing with it.’

13. In Article 118(2), after the words ‘sitting in plenary session’
there shall be inserted the words ‘or by the Grand
Chamber’ and the words ‘that Court as so constituted’ at
the end of the sentence shall be replaced by the words ‘to
that Court or that Chamber as the case may be’.

14. In Articles 124, 127(1) and 129(2), after the words ‘Court
of First Instance sitting in plenary session’ there shall be
inserted the words ‘or the Grand Chamber of the Court of
First Instance’.

Article 2

The first election of Presidents of the Chambers composed of
five Judges for three years pursuant to Article 15(2) of the
Rules of Procedure shall take place on the expiry of the present
period of partial renewal of the Members of the Court of First
Instance as provided for in the second paragraph of Article
224 of the EC Treaty, after 31 August 2004.

Article 3

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

Done at Luxembourg, 21 May 2003.

11. In the first subparagraph of Article 52(2), after the words
‘the Court of First Instance sitting in plenary session’ there
shall be inserted ‘to the Grand Chamber’.

The Registrar

H. JUNG

The President

B. VESTERDORF