Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities
Date: 2008-06-12
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: General Court (EU), administrative procedure, judicial proceedings, operation of the Institutions

L 179/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.7.2008

RULES OF PROCEDURE

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

COURT OF

THE
COMMUNITIES,

FIRST

INSTANCE OF

THE

EUROPEAN

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,
thereof,

establishing the European
in particular the fifth paragraph of Article 224

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), 6 December 2000 (OJ
L 322 of 19 December 2000, p. 4), 21 May 2003 (OJ L 147 of
14 June 2003, p. 22), 19 April 2004 (OJ L 132 of 29 April
2004, p. 3), 21 April 2004 (OJ L 127 of 29 April 2004,
p. 108), 12 October 2005 (OJ L 298 of 15 November 2005,
p. 1) and 18 December 2006 (OJ L 386 of 29 December 2006,
p. 45) are amended as follows:

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

in particular

the

1. In Article 24(7) a new sentence shall be added:

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

Having regard to the agreement of the Court of Justice,

‘Copies of those documents shall
likewise be sent to the
European Parliament,
to assess whether the
to enable it
inapplicability of an act adopted jointly by that institution
and by the Council is being invoked under Article 241 of
the EC Treaty.’

Having regard to the approval of the Council given on 14 May
2008;

2. In the first subparagraph of Article 51(1) the last sentence

shall be replaced by the following text:

Whereas:

It is necessary to amend certain provisions of the Rules of
Procedure in order,
first, to have regard to the role of the
European Parliament in connection with legislative procedure
and, second, to adapt them to the needs of efficient organisation
of the court;

‘The decision to refer a case to a formation composed of a
greater number of Judges shall be taken by the Court of First
Instance in plenary session, after hearing the Advocate
General.’

3. In Article 77, in subparagraph (c) ‘.’ shall be replaced by ‘;’
and a subparagraph (d) shall be added, worded as follows:

In the light of experience, adaptation is necessary in order to
enable the court to hear and determine more efficiently cases
within the sphere of intellectual property,

‘(d) in other particular cases where the proper administration

of justice so requires.’

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 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,

4. In the first subparagraph of Article 100(2) of the Rules of
Procedure, the words ‘other than a judgment or order of the
Court of First Instance’ shall be replaced by ‘including a
judgment or order of the Court of First Instance’; a new
‘Judgments and orders
subparagraph, worded as follows:
notified pursuant to Article 55 of the Statute of the Court
of Justice to the Member States and institutions which were
not parties to the proceedings shall be sent to them by
telefax or any other technical means of communication.’
in the
shall be added after the first subparagraph;
following subparagraph,
shall be
deleted.

‘nature or’

the words

lastly,

8.7.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 179/13

5. The text of a new Article 135a shall be inserted between

Article 2

Article 135 and Article 136:

‘Article 135a

the submission of pleadings as provided for

in
After
Article 135(1) and,
if applicable, Article 135(2) and (3),
the Court of First Instance, acting upon a report from the
Judge-Rapporteur and after hearing the Advocate General
and the parties, may decide to rule on the action without
an oral procedure unless one of
the parties submits an
application setting out the reasons for which he wishes to
be heard. The application shall be submitted within a period
of one month from notification to the party of closure of
the written procedure. That period may be extended by the
President.’

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

Done at Luxembourg, 12 June 2008.

E. COULON
Registrar

M. JAEGER
The President