Assignment of Judges to the Chambers

(2004/C 251/23)

On 13 September 2004 the Court of First Instance decided to establish five Chambers of five Judges and five Chambers of three Judges for the period from 13 September 2004 to 30 September 2005 and to assign Judges to them as follows:

First Chamber, Extended Composition, sitting with five Judges:

Mr Vesterdorf, President, Mr Cooke, Mr García-Valdecasas, Ms Labucka and Ms Trstenjak, Judges

First Chamber, sitting with three Judges:

Mr Cooke, President of Chamber, Mr García-Valdecasas, Ms Labucka and Ms Trstenjak, Judges

Second Chamber, Extended Composition, sitting with five Judges:

Mr Pirrung, President of Chamber, Mr Meij, Mr Forwood, Ms Pelikánová and Mr Papasavvas, Judges

Second Chamber, sitting with three Judges:

Mr Pirrung, President of Chamber

Third Chamber, Extended Composition, sitting with five Judges:

Mr Jaeger, President of Chamber, Ms Tiili, Mr Azizi, Ms Cremona and Mr Czúcz, Judges

Third Chamber, sitting with three Judges:

Mr Jaeger, President of Chamber

Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition, sitting with five Judges:

Mr Legal, President of Chamber, Ms Lindh, Mr Mengozzi, Ms Wiszniewska-Białecka and Mr Vadapalas, Judges

Fourth Chamber, sitting with three Judges:

Mr Legal, President of Chamber

Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition, sitting with five Judges:

Mr Vilaras, President of Chamber, Ms Martins Ribeiro, Mr Dehousse, Mr Šváby and Ms Jürimäe, Judges

Fifth Chamber, sitting with three Judges:

Mr Vilaras, President of Chamber

In the First Chamber sitting with three Judges, the Judges who sit with the President of the Chamber to make up the Chamber will be designated in turn, in the order provided for by Article 6 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, subject to the presence of connected cases. In the Second to Fifth Chambers sitting with three Judges, the President of the Chamber will sit either with the Judges referred to at (a) above or with those referred to at (b) above, depending on which of those formations the Judge-Rapporteur belongs to. For cases in which the President of the Chamber is the Judge-Rapporteur, the President of the Chamber will sit with the Judges of one or other of those formations alternately in accordance with the order in which the cases are registered, subject to the presence of connected cases.

Cases in which the Judge-Rapporteur is assigned to another Chamber as a result of the amendment of the composition of the Chambers shall be reallocated, with effect from 13 September 2004, to the Chamber to which the Judge-Rapporteur belongs from that date.

In cases where the written procedure was completed and a hearing in the oral procedure was held or fixed before 13 September 2004, the Chamber shall continue to sit with the same composition as previously for the oral procedure, the deliberation and the judgment.

Composition of the Grand Chamber

On 13 September 2004 the Court of First Instance decided, in accordance with Article 10(1) of the Rules of Procedure, that for the period from 13 September 2004 to 30 September 2005 the Grand Chamber shall be composed of: Mr Vesterdorf, President of the Court of First Instance; Mr Jaeger, Mr Pirrung, Mr Vilaras and Mr Legal, Presidents of Chambers; the Judges of the Chamber (Extended Composition) who would have had to hear the case in question if it had been assigned to a Chamber composed of five Judges; and four other Judges designated by the President of the Court of First Instance in turn from among the Judges of each of the other Chambers, in the order of precedence of those Judges within their Chambers according to seniority in office under Article 6 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance.

As regards cases where the written procedure was completed and, in the oral procedure, a hearing before the Grand Chamber was held or fixed before 13 September 2004, the Grand Chamber shall continue to sit with the same composition as previously for the oral procedure, the deliberation and the judgment.

Plenary session

On 13 September 2004 the Court of First Instance decided, in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 32(1) of the Rules of Procedure, that where, following the designation of an Advocate General pursuant to Article 17 of the Rules of Procedure, there is an even number of Judges in the Court of First Instance sitting in plenary session, the rota established in advance in accordance with which the President of the Court is to designate the Judge who will not take part in the judgment of the case shall be in reverse order to the order in which the Judges rank according to their seniority in office under Article 6 of the Rules of Procedure unless the Judge who would thus be designated is the Judge-Rapporteur. In that event, it is the Judge ranking immediately above him who shall be designated.

Designation of the Judge replacing the President of the Court of First Instance as the Judge hearing an application for interim measures

On 13 September 2004 the Court of First Instance decided, in accordance with Article 106 of the Rules of Procedure, to designate Judge García-Valdecasas to replace the President of the Court of First Instance for the purpose of deciding applications for interim measures where the latter is absent or prevented from dealing with them, in respect of the period from 13 September 2004 to 30 September 2005.

Criteria for assigning cases to the Chambers

On 13 September 2004 the Court of First Instance laid down criteria as follows for the assignment of cases to the Chambers for the period from 13 September 2004 to 30 September 2005, in accordance with Article 12 of the Rules of Procedure.

In applying those rotas, the First Chamber shall not be taken into consideration at each fifth turn.

The President of the Court of First Instance may derogate from the rotas on the ground that cases are related or with a view to ensuring an even spread of the workload.