REFERENCE QUESTION PROCEDURE

Reference Question Procedure in Court of Justice of the European Union

Reference Question Procedure in Court of Justice of the European Union

The primary function of the Court of Justice of the European Union is to make sure that the law under the article 220 (ex 164) is observed in the application and interpretation of the treaty of the members states of the European Union. The ECJ (Court of Justice of the European Union) sits in the Luxemburg. There are fifteen judges in the ECJ (Court of Justice of the European Union) and for the assistance of the judges there are a total of nine advocates in the ECJ. The advocate general of the ECJ (Court of Justice of the European Union) is the one who is being assigned to a specific case tend to deliver the independent perspective and option regarding the case in which he indicates regarding the issue that is being raised and provides the conclusions and their reasons to which they have reached. The opinion does not need to be binding in the court, however, it is required that the opinion needs to be taken into account while the ECJ (Court of Justice of the European Union) considers the specific decision. The advocate's generals and the judges for the ECJ (Court of Justice of the European Union) are chosen among those people who have shown considerable independence and their independence is considered to be beyond any doubt or issue. They are people who tend to possess such qualification that are being required for the appointment into the offices of the highest judiciary in those countries where they have their operations or those who are regarded as the juristic of the standard competence. The governments are responsible for appointing the members states for a specific time period of six years. During the six year tenure, there is a half tenure replacement that is every three years there is a programame for partial replacements of the advocates general and judges (European Union Law, 2011). This paper discusses the circumstances in which a national court or tribunal hold a discretion to reference a question to the court of justice of the European Union. It also discusses the circumstances in which the court of justice of the European Union is obliged to make a reference.

It is evident that the court of justice of the European Union or ECJ does not necessarily need to follow the doctrine of the pattern or standard precedent provided despite of the fact that it generally follows the previous decisions but in the cases of different circumstances it can be changed. The procedure of preliminary reference is used when the court of justice of the European Union or tribunal tend to refer a question related to the law of European union to the Court of Justice of the European Union or ECJ in order to start a preliminary ruling that lead to the enabling of the national ...