Artur Weryński v Mediatel 4B spółka z o.o..
Date: 2011-02-17
28. However, Article 68 EC was repealed on 1 December 2009. The Treaty of Lisbon thereby rendered inoperative the former limitation in Article 68(1) EC on the right of referral, a limitation which has not been replaced. Henceforward, it is the general rules governing references for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU which apply to references for preliminary rulings on the interpretation of acts adopted in the area of visas, asylum, immigration and other policies related to the free movement of persons. Consequently, Article 267 TFEU also applies to references relating to Regulation No 1206/2001.
29. Therefore, having regard to the extension of the right to refer questions for a preliminary ruling effected by the Treaty of Lisbon, henceforward courts of first instance also have the right to refer where acts adopted in the field of Title IV of the EC Treaty are concerned.
30. The objective pursued by Article 267 TFEU of establishing effective cooperation between the Court of Justice and the national courts and the principle of procedural economy are arguments in favour of regarding references for a preliminary ruling as admissible where they were lodged by lower courts during the transitional period that elapsed shortly before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and have not been examined by the Court until after its entry into force. Rejection on the ground of inadmissibility would, in those circumstances, only lead the referring court, which would in the meantime have acquired the right to make a reference, to refer the same question for a preliminary ruling once more, resulting in excessive procedural formalities and unnecessary lengthening of the duration of the main proceedings.
31. Therefore, it must be held that since 1 December 2009 the Court has had jurisdiction to hear and determine a reference for a preliminary ruling from a court against whose decisions there is a judicial remedy under national law even where the reference was lodged prior to that date.
34. As regards the first issue relating to inadmissibility referred to by the Commission, which is based on the fact that interpretation of Regulation No 1206/2001 does not appear to be necessary for the resolution of the dispute in the main proceedings, it must be recalled that the presumption that questions referred by national courts for a preliminary ruling are relevant may be rebutted only in exceptional cases, where it is quite obvious that the interpretation which is sought of the provisions of European Union law referred to in the questions bears no relation to the purpose of the main action (see, inter alia, Case C-105/03 Pupino  [2005] ECR I-5285, paragraph 30, and Case C-467/05 Dell’Orto  [2007] ECR I‑5557, paragraph 40).
41. It follows that only a broad interpretation of the concept ‘give judgment’ within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 267 TFEU would make it possible to prevent many procedural questions, in particular those which arise in the application of Regulation No 1206/2001, from being regarded as inadmissible and from being unable to be the subject of interpretation by the Court.
42. That concept must therefore be understood as encompassing the whole of the procedure leading to the judgment of the referring court, in order that the Court of Justice is able to interpret all procedural provisions of European Union law that the referring court is required to apply in order to give judgment. In other words, that concept covers the entire process of creating the judgment, including all issues relating to the responsibility for the costs of proceedings.
44. It must be recalled that, according to settled case-law, a national court may refer a question to the Court only if there is a case pending before it and if it is called upon to give judgment in proceedings intended to lead to a decision of a judicial nature (see, in particular, the order in Case C-447/00 Holto  [2002] ECR I-735, paragraph 17, and Case C-296/08 PPU Santesteban Goicoechea  [2008] ECR I‑6307, paragraph 40).
62. As regards the obligation to reimburse those costs, it must be recalled that according to recitals 2, 7, 8, 10 and 11 in the preamble to Regulation No 1206/2001 the aim of the regulation is to make the taking of evidence in a cross-border context simple, effective and rapid. The taking, by a court of one Member State, of evidence in another Member State must not lead to the lengthening of national proceedings. That is why Regulation No 1206/2001 established a regime binding on all the Member States, with the exception of the Kingdom of Denmark, to remove obstacles which may arise in that field.