European Union

One of the fundamental institutions of the Union is the European Court of Justice and the General Court. Along with the Court of Justice, the General Court is one of the EU’s judicial institutions making up the Court of Justice of the European Union. Their purpose is to ensure a uniform interpretation and application of EU law. Decisions of the General Court can be appealed to the Court of Justice, but only on a point of law. Before the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, it was known as the Court of First Instance.

The Court is responsible for dealing with cases lodged by individuals, businesses or organisations against acts by EU institutions and bodies; cases lodged by EU countries against certain decisions of the Commission or the Council; cases relating to the EU trade mark; cases on employment relations between the EU institutions and their civil servants. The Court of Justice, together with the General Court, forms the Court of Justice of the European Union whose aim is to ensure the uniform interpretation of EU law and that EU countries and institutions respect the law. The Court is responsible for dealing with references for preliminary rulings from national courts on interpretation of EU law; actions brought by an EU country or the Commission against a member country for infringing EU law; some actions brought by an EU country for annulment of a measure adopted by an EU institution; actions against an EU institution for failure to act; appeals on points of law against judgments of the General Court (source – europa.eu).