This document provides an overview of Article 267 of the EU Treaty, which establishes the preliminary reference procedure. [1] It allows national courts to refer questions about the interpretation or validity of EU law to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling. [2] This procedure helps ensure uniform interpretation of EU law across member states and prevents conflicting rulings. [3] The CJEU ruling is then applied by the national court in resolving the specific case.
This document provides an overview of Article 267 of the EU Treaty, which establishes the preliminary reference procedure. [1] It allows national courts to refer questions about the interpretation or validity of EU law to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling. [2] This procedure helps ensure uniform interpretation of EU law across member states and prevents conflicting rulings. [3] The CJEU ruling is then applied by the national court in resolving the specific case.
This document provides an overview of Article 267 of the EU Treaty, which establishes the preliminary reference procedure. [1] It allows national courts to refer questions about the interpretation or validity of EU law to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for a preliminary ruling. [2] This procedure helps ensure uniform interpretation of EU law across member states and prevents conflicting rulings. [3] The CJEU ruling is then applied by the national court in resolving the specific case.
If EU law has supremacy over conflicting national law and if it
has direct effect so that it can be used in national courts, do these national courts have the authority to decide definitively what these provisions of EU law mean? If the final say on what EU law meant rested in the hands of the different national legal systems, this might give rise to diverse and conflicting interpretations of EU law
This would mean that the policies and objectives
pursued by the EU could be undermined as a common position on the meaning of EU law could not be adhered to
If a common position could not be adhered to, this
would undermine the effectiveness of EU law in the pursuit of its objectives How does the EU legal order ensure that the provisions of EU law are interpreted in a uniform way so as to ensure effectiveness?
The primary institution responsible for ensuring the uniform
interpretation of EU law is the CJEU
The key procedure it uses to this effect is the Preliminary
Reference procedure under Article 267 Put simply, Article 267 enables and, The case is then in certain cases, returned to the requires a national court national court to The CJEU then which proceeds refer a question provides a to apply the law concerning the preliminary to the facts of the validity or ruling on the case and interpretation of matter in question determine the EU law to the appropriate Court of Justice remedies of the European Union An overview of Article 267 20.1 1.1 Text of Article 267
The Court of Justice of the European Union shall have
jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings concerning: (a) the interpretation of the Treaties; (b) the validity and interpretation of acts of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the Union 0.5 The tension between uniformity and decentralization means that part of the function of the preliminary reference procedure is to provide a way of implementing the ideal of uniformity in the context of a decentralized administrative system Detailed Examination 20.2