Annual Report 2011 of the Court of Justice of the European Union
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QD-AG-12-001-EN-C EN COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AnnuaL report 2011 COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION EUROPEAN THE OF JUSTICE OF COURT Annual reportAnnual 2011 ISSN 1831-8444 HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS Free publications: • via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu); • at the European Commission’s representations or delegations. You can obtain their contact details on the Internet (http://ec.europa.eu) or by sending a fax to +352 2929-42758. Priced publications: • via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu). Priced subscriptions (e.g. annual series of the Official Journal of the European Union and reports of cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union): • via one of the sales agents of the Publications Office of the European Union (http://publications.europa.eu/others/agents/index_en.htm). COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION ANNUAL REPORT 2011 Synopsis of the work of the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal Luxembourg, 2012 www.curia.europa.eu Court of Justice 2925 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG Tel. +352 4303-1 General Court 2925 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG Tel. +352 4303-1 Civil Service Tribunal 2925 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG Tel. +352 4303-1 The Court of Justice on the Internet: http://www.curia.europa.eu Completed on: 1 January 2012 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The photographs may be reproduced only in the context of this publication. For any other use, authorisation must be sought from the Publications Office of the European Union. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2012 ISBN 978-92-829-1150-1 doi:10.2862/78405 © European Union, 2012 Printed in Luxembourg PRINTED ON ELEMENTAL CHLORINE-FREE BLEACHED PAPER (ECF) Contents Court of Justice Contents Page Foreword ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter I The Court of Justice A — The Court of Justice in 2011: changes and activity ................................................................. 9 B — Case-law of the Court of Justice in 2011 .................................................................................. 13 C — Composition of the Court of Justice .......................................................................................... 67 1. Members of the Court of Justice ......................................................................................... 69 2. Change in the composition of the Court of Justice in 2011 ..................................... 85 3. Order of precedence ............................................................................................................... 87 4. Former members of the Court of Justice ......................................................................... 89 D — Statistics concerning the judicial activity of the Court of Justice ................................... 93 Chapter II The General Court A — Proceedings of the General Court in 2011 ............................................................................ 125 B — Composition of the General Court ........................................................................................... 173 1. Members of the General Court .......................................................................................... 175 2. Change in the composition of the General Court in 2011 ...................................... 185 3. Order of precedence ............................................................................................................. 187 4. Former members of the General Court .......................................................................... 189 C — Statistics concerning the judicial activity of the General Court .................................... 191 Annual Report 2011 3 Court of Justice Contents Chapter III The Civil Service Tribunal A — Proceedings of the Civil Service Tribunal in 2011 ............................................................... 215 B — Composition of the Civil Service Tribunal .............................................................................. 227 1. Members of the Civil Service Tribunal ............................................................................ 229 2. Change in the composition of the Civil Service Tribunal in 2011 ......................... 235 3. Order of precedence ............................................................................................................. 237 4. Former members of the Civil Service Tribunal ............................................................. 239 C — Statistics concerning the judicial activity of the Civil Service Tribunal ....................... 241 Chapter IV Meetings and visits A — Official visits and events at the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal in 2011 ........................................................ 255 B — Study visits (2011) ........................................................................................................................... 259 C — Formal sittings in 2011 ................................................................................................................. 263 D — Visits and participation in official functions ......................................................................... 265 Abridged organisational chart ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 269 4 Annual Report 2011 Foreword Court of Justice Foreword For the Courts of the European Union, 2011 was above all a year marked by particularly intense judicial activity. With 1 569 new cases and 1 518 cases completed, the Court of Justice of the Euro- pean Union is seeing a significant increase in the number of actions brought before and disposed of by its three judicial organs. The institution can only be gladdened by this trend which indicates the confidence of national courts and of litigants in the Courts of the European Union. Neverthe- less, this increase in the caseload demands a degree of vigilance on the part of both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Union’s legislative authorities in order that the effectiveness of the European Union’s judicial system is not jeopardised and that European citizens continue to be served to the highest standards. With this in mind, the Court of Justice proposed in the past year a series of amendments to its Stat- ute and a complete recasting of its Rules of Procedure, seeking, first, to improve its efficiency and productivity and those of the General Court and, second, to modernise its procedures. In 2011, three large-scale information technology projects, intended principally to bring the Court closer to the public, were also seen through to a successful conclusion. The opening of the e-Curia system which enables procedural documents to be lodged and served electronically, the launch of a new, more effective, search engine for consulting case-law and the putting online of the cata- logue of the Court’s library are designed to make the Court of Justice more accessible and more transparent. The past year also saw the departure of the President and two members of the Civil Service Tribu- nal as a result of the partial renewal of its membership as well as the departure of one member of the Court of Justice and one member of the General Court. This report provides a full record of changes concerning the institution and of its work in 2011. A substantial part of the report is devoted to succinct but exhaustive accounts of the main judicial activity of the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal. Separate statistics for each court supplement and illustrate the analysis relating to the courts. I would like to take this opportunity to thank warmly my colleagues in the three courts and the entire staff of the Court of Justice for the outstanding work carried out by them during this excep- tionally demanding year. V. Skouris President of the Court of Justice Annual Report 2011 5 Chapter I The Court of Justice Changes and activity Court of Justice A — The Court of Justice in 2011: changes and activity By Mr Vassilios Skouris, President of the Court of Justice The first part of the Annual Report gives an overview of the activities of the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2011. It describes, first, how the institution evolved during the year, with the emphasis on the institutional changes affecting the Court of Justice and/or developments relating to its internal organisation. It includes, second, an analysis of the statistics relating to changes in the Court of Justice’s workload and in the average duration of proceedings. It presents, third, as each year, the main developments in the case-law, arranged by subject-matter. 1. In 2011, the Court of Justice submitted to the European Union legislature draft amendments to its Statute and a proposed recasting and updating of its Rules of Procedure. The main aim of both proposals is to improve the efficiency of proceedings before the Courts of the European Union. The proposed amendments to the Statute seek in particular the establishment of the office of Vice- President of the Court of Justice, an increase in the number of judges forming the Grand Chamber to 15 as well as abolition of the automatic participation in