Article 267 TFEU

Purpose - independent court or tribunal

Why do we have preliminary procedure?

What is a court or tribunal?

Not closely connected with the state

Opinions are interpretative - supremacy

Marks and Spencer v Customs and Excise Commissioners

The Court of Appeal raised a question of the ECJ relating to a Directive. The ECJ noted that the question was based on a mistaken premise regarding direct effect and, having put the Court of Appeal straight on that point, concluded that it (the ECJ) therefore needed to rephrase the question (otherwise the answer would not make sense).

Broekmeulen [1981]

In this case, a doctor, Dr Broekmeulen’s registration as a GP had been refused. His appeal to the Appeals Committee of the Royal Netherlands Society for the Protection of Medicine, was based on EU law. References were made to the ECJ one of which asked whether or not the Appeals Committee was a “court or tribunal”.

Procura della Republica v X [1986]

the ECJ held that questions referred
to it by the Italian Public Prosecutor were inadmissible, as he did not constitute a “court or tribunal”.