Judgment of the Court of Justice Grand Chamber, 5 June 2023, Commission v Pologne Independence and private life of judges, C-204/21

• Date: 05 June 2023
• Year: 2023

2

I. VALUES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION: RULE OF LAW – JUDICIAL

INDEPENDENCE

Judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber), 5 June 2023, Commission v Pologne

(Independence and private life of judges), C-204/21

Link to the full text of the judgment

Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations – Second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU – Article 47 of

the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Rule of law – Effective legal protection in the

fields covered by EU law – Independence of judges – Article 267 TFEU – Possibility of making a reference

to the Court for a preliminary ruling – Primacy of EU law – Jurisdiction in relation to the lifting of the

immunity from criminal prosecution of judges and in the field of employment law, social security and

retirement of judges of the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court, Poland) conferred on the Disciplinary

Chamber of that court – National courts prohibited from calling into question the legitimacy of the

constitutional courts and bodies or from establishing or assessing the lawfulness of the appointment of

judges or their judicial powers – Verification by a judge of compliance with certain requirements relating

to the existence of an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law classified as a

‘disciplinary offence’ – Exclusive jurisdiction to examine questions relating to the lack of independence of a

court or judge conferred on the Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber of the Sąd Najwyższy

(Supreme Court) – Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – Rights to privacy and the

protection of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Article 6(1), first subparagraph, points (c) and (e),

and Article 6(3), second subparagraph – Article 9(1) – Sensitive data – National legislation requiring judges

to make a declaration as to whether they belong to associations, foundations or political parties, and to

the positions held within those associations, foundations or political parties, and providing for the placing

online of the data contained in those declarations

In 2017, two new chambers were established within the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court, Poland),

namely the Izba Dyscyplinarna (Disciplinary Chamber) and the Izba Kontroli Nadzwyczajnej i Spraw

Publicznych (Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs Chamber).