COURT OF JUSTICE : JUDGES' PRODUCTIVITY PEAKS IN 2009.

PositionEuropean Court of Justice - Report

The number of verdicts delivered in 2009 is one of the highest in the history of the European Court of Justice and this despite a significant number of new cases. Such is the conclusion to be drawn from the judicial activity statistics for the past year published by the three-tiered Luxembourg-based legal institution, on 15 March. An extract from the annual report, due to be published at the end of March or beginning of April, presents an overview of the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.

The statistics concerning the Court of Justice's activity in 2009 show, overall, increased productivity and improved efficiency relative to the duration of proceedings: 543 cases were concluded in 2009, one of the highest 'scores' in the court's history representing an appreciable increase compared with the previous year (495 cases completed in 2008). Of those cases, 377 were dealt with by judgements and 165 gave rise to orders (a faster procedure). The number of judgements delivered in 2009 was higher than in 2008 and there were slightly fewer new cases. It should, however, be pointed out that the number of references for a preliminary ruling submitted in 2009 is the highest ever reached (302 cases).

Proceedings also took less time in 2009: the average time taken to deal with appeals in 2009 was 15.4 months, compared to 18.4 months in 2008, and the average time for direct actions dropped from 17.1 months to 16.9 months. These improved figures are the result of the reforms to working methods implemented by the court over the past few years as well as to the increased use of the various procedural instruments at its disposal to expedite the handling of certain cases (the urgent preliminary ruling procedure, priority treatment, the accelerated or expedited procedure, the simplified procedure and the possibility of delivering judgement without the need for an advocate's opinion). The urgent preliminary ruling procedure was requested in three cases and...

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