General Court to decide EU VAT cases from 1 October
14 August 2024| CATEGORIES: EU VAT, General Court, VAT case| TAGS: Court of Justice, EU, General Court, VAT cases
From 1 October 2024 responsibility for EU decisions in certain cases will transfer from the Court of Justice of the European Union to the General Court of the European Union. The aim of the reform is to reduce the workload of the Court of Justice.
Why is the change being implemented?
In 2001 the Treaty of Nice had provided for the possibility of the General Court to deal with certain requests for a preliminary ruling, but until now the Statute has not been adapted for that purpose. However, over the past five years, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases being referred to the Court of Justice. In addition, cases have become more technically complex. This has resulted in increases to the average time taken for cases to be decided.
Areas to be transferred to the General Court
The transfer concerns six areas, which are clearly defined and sufficiently separable from other areas and which have given rise to a substantial body of case law of the Court of Justice. The jurisdiction to be conferred on the General Court will fall within the following six specific areas:
- value added tax;
- excise duties;
- the Customs Code;
- the tariff classification of goods under the Combined Nomenclature;
- compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding or of delay or cancellation of transport services;
- the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading.
These areas rarely give rise to questions of principle likely to affect the unity or consistency of Union law. They also already benefit from an extensive body of case law of the Court of Justice, which should enable the General Court to draw on previous judgments.
These areas account for approximately 20% of the references for a preliminary ruling brought before the Court of Justice, which is sufficiently high to bring about a real reduction in its workload following the change. The Court of Justice should therefore be able to focus to a greater extent on its roles as the supreme and constitutional court of the European Union.
Aspects of jurisdiction to be retained by the Court of Justice
The Court of Justice will retain jurisdiction to adjudicate on requests for a preliminary ruling that, although connected to the specific areas mentioned above, also concern other areas. It will also retain jurisdiction in respect of preliminary ruling requests which, even where they fall within one or more of the specific areas, raise independent questions of interpretation of:
- primary law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
- public international law; or
- general principles of Union law.
In addition, the General Court will also be able to refer to the Court of Justice a case that falls within the General Court’s jurisdiction but requires a decision of principle likely to affect the unity or consistency of Union law.
Further information on the Court of Justice and General Court is available here.
The press release announcing these changes is here.