PLAN TO HAVE MORE JUDGES FOR COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE.

The EU's legal experts have drafted a Council of Ministers Decision aiming to increase the number of judges at the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI). This should help the Court cope with its new responsibilities for disputes over intellectual property rights and the Community patent. The ranks of the current fifteen judges are to swell to a total of 21, creating two extra chambers of three judges each. The President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities originally called for this draft Decision, which was presented to the Council on 27 April 1999 and will be discussed by the Committee of Member States'...