Publication details
European Court of Justice as an Administrative Court
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Dny práva 2010 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.law.muni.cz/sborniky/dny_prava_2010/files/sbornik/sbornik.pdf |
| Field | Law sciences |
| Keywords | Judicial review; administrative decisions; European Court of Justice |
| Description | Court of Justice of the European Union fulfills three basic functions: 1. acts on disputes, mainly those concerning infringements of the Union law, 2. acts as the constitutional or administrative court of the Union and 3. safeguards the uniform interpretation of the Union law in member states.We shall concentrate on its second function: European court acting as an administrative court. In any democratic state respecting the rule of law decisions of administrative bodies must be subject to judicial review by independent courts. The same principle exists in the European Union on the Union level. Administrative bodies of the Union are the European Commission and other specialized bodies with a decision-making capacity. The present contribution deals with the judicial review of the Commission and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, which administers the procedures for the registration of Union trademarks and designs. Administrative decisions of the Commission relating to individuals concern essentially sanctions for individual infringements of competition rules. The object of our attention is among others a special method of the review (Art.261 TFEU) that provides to the Court the possibility to modify the amount of the fine imposed by the Commission (an element of the appellation principle). Other proceedings fall under Art. 263 TFEU. We mention briefly also Art. 265 concerning the failure to act of a Union institution. For the purpose of administration of procedures for registering Union trademarks and designs and maintaining the Register of Union Trademarks and registered designs, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market(Trademarks and Designs) (OHIM) has been established. It also issues decisions regarding the aforementioned subject-matters, for instance, refusal of a Union trademark application on absolute or relative grounds, invalidity of registered Union design etc. |