1.   The term of office of a Judge shall begin on the date laid down in his instrument of appointment.

2.   In the absence of any provision regarding the date, the term shall begin on the date of the instrument.

1.   Before taking up his duties, a Judge shall take the following oath before the Court of Justice of the European Communities:

2.   Immediately after taking the oath, a Judge shall sign a declaration by which he solemnly undertakes that, both during and after his term of office, he will respect the obligations arising therefrom, and in particular the duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after he has ceased to hold office, of certain appointments and benefits.

1.   When the Court of Justice is called upon to decide, after consulting the Tribunal, whether a Judge no longer fulfils the requisite conditions or no longer meets the obligations arising from his office, the President of the Tribunal shall invite the Judge concerned to make representations to the Tribunal in closed session and in the absence of the Registrar.

2.   The Tribunal shall state the reasons for its opinion.

3.   An opinion to the effect that a Judge no longer fulfils the requisite conditions or no longer meets the obligations arising from his office must receive the votes of at least a majority of the Judges of the Tribunal. In that event, particulars of the voting shall be communicated to the Court of Justice.

4.   Voting shall be by secret ballot; the Judge concerned shall not take part in the deliberations.

1.   With the exception of the President of the Tribunal and of the Presidents of the Chambers, the Judges shall rank equally in precedence according to their seniority in office.

2.   Where there is equal seniority in office, precedence shall be determined by age.

3.   Retiring Judges who are reappointed shall retain their former precedence.

1.   In accordance with Article 4(1) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, the Judges shall elect the President of the Tribunal from among their number for a term of three years. He may be re-elected.

2.   If the office of President of the Tribunal falls vacant before the usual date of expiry of his term, the Tribunal shall elect a successor for the remainder thereof.

3.   The elections provided for in this Article shall be by secret ballot. If a Judge obtains an absolute majority he shall be elected. If no Judge obtains an absolute majority, a second ballot shall be held and the Judge obtaining the most votes shall be elected. Where two or more Judges obtain an equal number of votes, the oldest of them shall be deemed elected.

4.   The name of the President of the Tribunal shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   The President of the Tribunal shall direct the judicial business and the administration of the Tribunal.

2.   He shall preside at sittings and deliberations in closed session of:

1.   The Tribunal shall set up Chambers sitting with three Judges. It may set up a Chamber sitting with five Judges.

2.   The Tribunal shall decide which Judges shall be attached to the Chambers. If the number of Judges attached to a Chamber is greater than the number of Judges sitting, it shall decide how to designate the Judges taking part in the formation of the court.

3.   Decisions taken in accordance with this article shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   In accordance with Article 4(3) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, the Judges shall elect from among their number for a term of three years the Presidents of the Chambers sitting with three Judges. The election shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 6(3). They may be re-elected.

2.   Article 6(2) and (4) shall apply.

3.   The Presidents of Chambers shall direct the judicial business of their Chambers and shall preside at sittings and deliberations.

4.   When the President of a Chamber is absent or prevented from attending or when the office of President is vacant, the Chamber shall be presided over by a member thereof according to the order of precedence laid down pursuant to Article 5.

5.   If, exceptionally, the President of the Tribunal is called upon to complete the formation of the court, he shall preside.

1.   Without prejudice to Article 13 or Article 14, the Tribunal shall sit in Chambers of three Judges.

2.   The Tribunal shall lay down criteria by which cases are to be assigned to the Chambers.

3.   The decision provided for in the previous paragraph shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   Whenever the difficulty of the questions of law raised or the importance of the case or special circumstances so justify, a case may be referred to the full court or to the Chamber sitting with five Judges.

2.   The decision to refer shall be taken by the full court on a proposal by the Chamber hearing the case or by any member of the Tribunal. It may be taken at any stage of the proceedings.

1.   Cases assigned to a Chamber sitting with three Judges may be heard and determined by the Judge-Rapporteur sitting as a single Judge where, having regard to the lack of difficulty of the questions of law or fact raised, to the limited importance of the case and to the absence of other special circumstances, they are suitable for being so heard and determined.

Referral to a single Judge shall not be possible in cases which raise issues as to the legality of an act of general application.

2.   The decision to refer shall be taken unanimously, the parties having been heard, by the Chamber before which the case is pending. It may be taken at any stage of the proceedings.

3.   If the single Judge to whom the case has been referred is absent or prevented from attending, the President shall designate another Judge to replace that Judge.

4.   The single Judge shall refer the case back to the Chamber if he finds that the conditions set out in paragraph 1 above are no longer satisfied.

5.   In cases heard by a single Judge, the powers of the President shall be exercised by that Judge.

1.   The dates and times of the sittings of the Tribunal shall be fixed by the President.

2.   The Tribunal may choose to hold one or more particular sittings in a place other than that in which it has its seat.

1.   If, because a Judge is absent or prevented from attending, the quorum is not attained, the President shall adjourn the sitting until the Judge is no longer absent or prevented from attending.

2.   In order to attain a quorum in a Chamber, the President may also, if the proper administration of justice so requires, complete the formation of the court with another Judge of the same Chamber or, failing that, propose that the President of the Tribunal should designate a Judge from another Chamber. The replacement Judge shall be designated by turn according to the order of precedence referred to in Article 5, with the exception, if possible, of the President of the Tribunal and of the Presidents of Chambers.

3.   If the formation of the court is completed pursuant to paragraph 2 after the hearing, the oral procedure shall be reopened.

1.   The Tribunal shall deliberate in closed session.

2.   Only those Judges who were present at the hearing may take part in the deliberations.

3.   In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 17 of the Statute of the Court of Justice and the first paragraph of Article 5 of Annex I to the Statute, deliberations of the Tribunal shall be valid only if an uneven number of Judges is sitting in the deliberations.

If, in the Chamber sitting with five Judges or in the full court, there is an even number of Judges, as a result of a Judge's being absent or prevented from attending, the lowest-ranking Judge, according to the order of precedence fixed pursuant to Article 5, shall abstain from taking part in the deliberations, unless he is the Judge-Rapporteur. In that last case, it is the Judge immediately senior to him who shall abstain.

4.   Every Judge taking part in the deliberations shall state his opinion and the reasons for it.

Any Judge may require that any question be formulated in the language of his choice and communicated in writing to the other Judges before being put to the vote.

The conclusions reached by the majority of the Judges after final discussion shall determine the decision of the Tribunal. Votes shall be cast in reverse order to the order of precedence laid down pursuant to Article 5.

Differences of view on the substance, wording or order of questions, or on the interpretation of a vote, shall be settled by decision of the Tribunal.

5.   Where the deliberations of the Tribunal concern questions of its own administration, the Registrar shall be present, unless the Tribunal decides to the contrary.

6.   Where the Tribunal sits without the Registrar being present it shall, if necessary, instruct the lowest-ranking Judge, according to the order of precedence referred to in Article 5, to draw up minutes. The minutes shall be signed by this Judge and by the President.

1.   Subject to any special decision of the Tribunal, its vacations shall be as follows:

2.   During the vacations, the functions of President of the Tribunal shall be exercised at the place where the Tribunal has its seat either by the President of the Tribunal, keeping in touch with the Registrar, or by a President of Chamber or other Judge invited by the President to take his place.

In a case of urgency, the President may convene the Judges.

3.   The Tribunal shall observe the official holidays of the place where it has its seat.

4.   The Tribunal may, in proper circumstances, grant leave of absence to any Judge.

1.   The parties' representatives, appearing before the Tribunal or before any judicial authority to which it has addressed letters rogatory, shall enjoy immunity in respect of words spoken or written by them concerning the case or the parties.

2.   The parties' representatives shall enjoy the following further privileges and facilities:

3.   The privileges, immunities and facilities specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 are granted exclusively in the interests of the proper conduct of proceedings.

4.   The Tribunal may waive the immunity where it considers that the proper conduct of proceedings will not be hindered thereby.

1.   If the Tribunal considers that the conduct of a party's representative towards the Tribunal, the President, a Judge or the Registrar is incompatible with the dignity of the Tribunal or with the requirements of the proper administration of justice, or that such representative uses his rights for purposes other than those for which they were granted, it shall so inform the person concerned. The Tribunal may inform the competent authorities to whom the person concerned is answerable; a copy of the letter sent to those authorities shall be forwarded to the person concerned.

On the same grounds the Tribunal may at any time, having heard the person concerned, exclude that person from the proceedings by order. That order shall have immediate effect.

2.   Where a party's representative is excluded from the proceedings, the proceedings shall be suspended for a period fixed by the President in order to allow the party concerned to appoint another representative.

3.   Decisions taken under this Article may be rescinded.

1.   The written procedure shall comprise the lodging of the application and of the defence and, in the circumstances provided for in Article 41, the lodging of a reply and a rejoinder.

2.   The President shall fix the dates or time-limits by which the pleadings must be lodged.

1.   The original of every pleading must be signed by the party's representative.

The original, accompanied by all annexes referred to therein, shall be lodged together with five copies for the Tribunal and a copy for every other party to the proceedings. Copies shall be certified by the party lodging them.

2.   Institutions shall in addition produce, within time-limits laid down by the Tribunal, translations of the pleadings of which they are the author into the other languages provided for by Article 1 of Council Regulation No 1. The second subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall apply.

3.   All pleadings shall bear a date. In the reckoning of time-limits for taking steps in proceedings only the date of lodging at the Registry shall be taken into account.

4.   To every pleading there shall be annexed a file containing the documents relied on in support of it, together with a schedule listing them.

5.   Where in view of the length of a document only extracts from it are annexed to the pleading, the whole document or a full copy of it shall be lodged at the Registry.

6.   Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 4, the date on which a copy of the signed original of a pleading, including the schedule of documents referred to in paragraph 4, is received at the Registry by any technical means of communication available to the Tribunal shall be deemed to be the date of lodging for the purposes of compliance with the time-limits for taking steps in proceedings, provided that the signed original of the pleading, accompanied by the annexes and copies referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, is lodged at the Registry no later than 10 days after the copy of the original was received. Article 100(3) shall not be applicable to this period of 10 days.

7.   Without prejudice to the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 or to paragraphs 2 to 4, the Tribunal may by decision determine the criteria for a procedural document sent to the Registry by electronic means to be deemed to be the original of that document. That decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   An application of the kind referred to in Article 21 of the Statute of the Court of Justice shall state:

2.   To the application there shall be annexed, where appropriate:

3.   For the purposes of the proceedings, the application shall state:

4.   If the application does not comply with the requirements referred to in paragraph 3, all service on the party concerned for the purposes of the proceedings shall be effected, for so long as the defect has not been cured, by registered letter addressed to that party's representative. By way of derogation from Article 99(1), service shall then be deemed to have been duly effected by the lodging of the registered letter at the post office of the place where the Tribunal has its seat.

5.   The applicant's lawyer must lodge at the Registry a certificate that he is authorised to practise before a court of a Member State or of another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

1.   The application shall be served on the defendant. In the cases provided for by Article 36, service shall be effected as soon as the application has been put in order or, failing that, as soon as the Tribunal has declared it admissible.

2.   Notice shall be given in the Official Journal of the European Union of the date on which the application was lodged, the parties, the subject-matter and description of the proceedings and the form of order sought by the applicant.

1.   Within two months after service of the application, the defendant shall lodge a defence stating:

The provisions of Article 35(3) and (4) shall apply.

The lawyer acting for the defendant must lodge at the Registry a certificate that he is authorised to practise before a court of a Member State or of another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

2.   The time-limit laid down in paragraph 1 may, in exceptional circumstances, be extended by the President on a reasoned application by the defendant.

1.   No new plea in law may be introduced after the first exchange of pleadings unless it is based on matters of law or of fact which come to light in the course of the procedure.

2.   If in the course of the procedure one of the parties puts forward a new plea in law, the President may, even after the expiry of the normal procedural time-limits, acting on a report of the Judge-Rapporteur, allow the other party time to answer on that plea.

Consideration of the admissibility of the plea shall be reserved for the final decision.

1.   Subject to the provisions of Article 109(5), the Tribunal shall take into consideration only those documents which have been made available to the parties' representatives and on which they have been given an opportunity of expressing their views.

2.   Where it is necessary for the Tribunal to verify the confidentiality, in respect of one or more parties, of a document that may be relevant in order to rule in a case, that document shall not be communicated to the parties before such verification is completed. The Tribunal may by way of order request the production of such a document.

3.   Where a document to which access has been denied by a Community institution has been produced before the Tribunal in proceedings relating to the legality of that denial, that document shall not be communicated to the other parties.

4.   On a reasoned application by a party or of its own motion, the Tribunal may omit the name of the applicant or of other persons mentioned in connection with the proceedings, or certain information, from the publications relating to a case if there are legitimate reasons for keeping the identity of a person or the information confidential.

1.   After the final exchange of the parties' pleadings, the President shall fix a date on which the Judge-Rapporteur is to present his preliminary report to the Tribunal.

2.   The preliminary report shall contain recommendations as to whether measures of organisation of procedure or measures of inquiry should be undertaken, as to the possibility of an amicable settlement of the dispute and as to whether the case should be referred to the full court, to the Chamber sitting with five Judges or to the Judge-Rapporteur sitting as a single Judge.

3.   The Tribunal shall decide what action to take upon the recommendations of the Judge-Rapporteur.

1.   In the interests of the proper administration of justice, the President may, at any time, after hearing the parties, order that two or more cases shall, on account of the connection between them, be joined for the purposes of the written or oral procedure or of the final decision. The cases may subsequently be disjoined. The President may refer these matters to the Tribunal.

2.   Where cases assigned to different formations of the court are to be joined on account of the connection between them, the President of the Tribunal shall decide on their re-assignment.

3.   The representatives of the parties to the joined cases may examine at the Registry the pleadings served on the parties in the other cases concerned. The President may, however, on application by a party, without prejudice to Article 44(1) and (2), exclude secret or confidential documents from that examination.

1.   The Tribunal shall deal with the cases before it in the order in which they become ready for examination.

2.   The President may in special circumstances direct that a particular case be given priority.

3.   The President may, after hearing the parties, in special circumstances, in particular with a view to facilitating an amicable settlement of the dispute, either on his own initiative or at the request of one of the parties, defer a case to be dealt with later.

1.   Without prejudice to the special provisions of these Rules permitting the Tribunal to adjudicate by way of order, and subject to paragraph 2, the procedure before the Tribunal shall include a hearing.

2.   Where there has been a second exchange of pleadings and the Tribunal considers that it is unnecessary to hold a hearing, it may, with the agreement of the parties, decide to proceed to judgment without a hearing.

1.   The proceedings shall be opened and directed by the President, who shall be responsible for the proper conduct of the hearing.

2.   The oral proceedings in cases heard in camera shall not be published.

3.   A party may address the Tribunal only through his representative.

4.   The President and each of the Judges may in the course of the hearing:

1.   The President shall declare the oral procedure closed at the end of the hearing.

2.   The Tribunal may order the reopening of the oral procedure.

1.   The Registrar shall draw up minutes of every hearing. The minutes shall be signed by the President and by the Registrar and shall constitute an official record.

2.   The parties may inspect the minutes at the Registry and obtain copies at their own expense.

1.   The purpose of measures of organisation of procedure and measures of inquiry shall be to ensure that cases are prepared for hearing, procedures carried out and disputes resolved under the best possible conditions.

Those measures may be adopted or varied at any stage of the proceedings.

2.   Each party may, at any stage of the proceedings, propose the adoption or modification of measures of organisation of procedure or of inquiry. In that case, the other parties shall be heard before those measures are prescribed.

3.   Where the procedural circumstances so require, the Judge-Rapporteur or, where appropriate, the Tribunal shall inform the parties of the measures envisaged in order to give them an opportunity to submit their observations orally or in writing.

1.   The Tribunal may, at all stages of the procedure, examine the possibilities of an amicable settlement of the dispute between the applicant and the defendant, propose one or more solutions capable of putting an end to the dispute and adopt appropriate measures with a view to facilitating such settlement.

It may, amongst other things:

2.   Paragraph 1 shall apply to proceedings for interim measures also.

3.   The Tribunal may instruct the Judge-Rapporteur, assisted by the Registrar, to seek the amicable settlement of a dispute or to implement the measures which it has adopted to that end.

1.   Where the applicant and the defendant come to an agreement before the Tribunal or the Judge-Rapporteur as to the solution putting an end to the dispute, the terms of that agreement may be recorded in minutes signed by the President or the Judge-Rapporteur and by the Registrar. The agreement as entered in the minutes shall constitute an official record.

The case shall be removed from the register by reasoned order of the President.

At the request of the applicant and defendant, the President shall set out the terms of the agreement in the order removing the case from the register.

2.   Where the applicant and the defendant notify the Tribunal that they have reached an agreement out of court as to the resolution of the dispute and state that they abandon all claims, the President shall order the case to be removed from the register.

3.   The President shall give a decision as to costs in accordance with the agreement or, failing that, at his discretion.

1.   Without prejudice to Articles 117(4), 118(4) and 119(4), proceedings may be stayed:

2.   The decision to stay the proceedings shall be made by reasoned order of the President after hearing the parties; the President may refer the matter to the Tribunal.

3.   Any decision ordering the resumption of proceedings before the end of the stay or as referred to in Article 72(2) shall be adopted in accordance with the same procedure.

1.   The stay of proceedings shall take effect on the date indicated in the order of stay or, in the absence of such an indication, on the date of that order.

2.   Where the order of stay does not fix the length of the stay, it shall end on the date indicated in the order of resumption or, in the absence of such indication, on the date of the order of resumption.

3.   While proceedings are stayed time shall, except for the purposes of the time-limit prescribed in Article 109(1) for an application to intervene, cease to run for the purposes of procedural time-limits.

Time shall begin to run afresh from the beginning for the purposes of the time-limits from the date on which the stay of proceedings comes to an end.

1.   In accordance with Article 8(2) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, where the Tribunal finds that the action before it falls within the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice or of the Court of First Instance, it shall refer that action to the Court of Justice or to the Court of First Instance.

2.   The Tribunal shall make its decision by way of reasoned order.

1.   A party applying to the Tribunal for a decision on admissibility, on lack of competence or other preliminary plea not going to the substance of the case shall make the application by a separate document within a month of service of the application.

The application must contain the pleas of fact and law relied on and the form of order sought by the applicant; any supporting documents must be annexed to it.

2.   As soon as the application has been lodged, the President shall prescribe a period within which the opposite party may lodge a document containing the form of order sought and the arguments of fact and law relied on.

Unless the Tribunal otherwise decides, the remainder of the proceedings shall be oral.

3.   The Tribunal shall decide on the application by way of reasoned order or reserve its decision for the final judgment.

If the Tribunal refuses the application or reserves its decision, the President shall prescribe new time-limits for further steps in the proceedings.

4.   The Tribunal shall refer the case to the Court of Justice or to the Court of First Instance if the case falls within the jurisdiction of either of those Courts.

1.   The judgment shall be delivered in open court. Due notice shall be given to the parties of the date of delivery.

2.   The original of the judgment, signed by the President, by the Judges who took part in the deliberations and by the Registrar, shall be sealed and deposited at the Registry; the Registrar shall ensure that each of the parties is served with a certified copy of the judgment.

3.   The Registrar shall record on the original of the judgment the date on which it was delivered.

1.   Every order shall contain:

2.   Where, in accordance with these Rules, an order must be reasoned, it shall in addition contain:

1.   Subject to the provisions of Article 12(1) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, judgments shall be binding from the date of their delivery.

2.   Orders shall be binding from the date of their service, save as otherwise provided in these Rules and in Article 12(1) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice.

1.   The Tribunal may, by way of order, of its own motion or on application by a party made within a month after the decision to be rectified has been served, after hearing the parties, rectify clerical mistakes, errors in calculation and obvious slips in it.

2.   The original of the rectification order shall be annexed to the original of the rectified decision. A note of this order shall be made in the margin of the original of the rectified decision.

1.   If the Tribunal should omit to give a decision on costs, any party may within a month after service of the decision apply to the Tribunal to supplement its decision.

2.   The application shall be served on the opposite party and the President shall prescribe a period within which that party may present written observations.

3.   After these observations have been presented, the Tribunal shall decide at the same time on the admissibility and on the substance of the application.

1.   Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Chapter, the unsuccessful party shall be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the successful party's pleadings.

2.   If equity so requires, the Tribunal may decide that an unsuccessful party is to pay only part of the costs or even that he is not to be ordered to pay any.

1.   Where there are several unsuccessful parties the Tribunal shall decide how the costs are to be shared.

2.   Where each party succeeds on some and fails on other heads, the Tribunal may order that the costs be shared or that each party bear its own costs.

3.   If costs are not applied for, the parties shall bear their own costs.

4.   Interveners shall bear their own costs.

5.   A party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings shall be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the observations of the other party on the discontinuance. However, upon application by the party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings, the costs shall be borne by the other party if this appears justified by the conduct of that party.

6.   Where a case does not proceed to judgment, the costs shall be in the discretion of the Tribunal.

7.   Where the parties have come to an agreement on costs, the decision as to costs shall be in accordance with that agreement.

1.   If there is a dispute concerning the amount and nature of the costs to be recovered, the Tribunal shall, on application by the party concerned and after hearing the opposite party, give its decision by way of reasoned order.

In accordance with Article 11(2) of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, no appeal may lie from that order.

2.   The parties may, for the purposes of enforcement, apply for a copy of the order.

1.   Sums due from the cashier of the Tribunal and from debtors of the Tribunal shall be paid in euro.

2.   Where expenses to be recovered have been incurred in a currency other than the euro or where the steps in respect of which payment is due were taken in a country of which the euro is not the currency, conversions of currency shall be made at the official rates of exchange of the European Central Bank on the day of payment.

1.   In order to ensure effective access to justice, legal aid shall be granted for proceedings before the Tribunal in accordance with the following rules.

Legal aid shall cover, in whole or in part, the costs involved in legal assistance and representation by a lawyer in proceedings before the Tribunal. The cashier of the Tribunal shall be responsible for those costs.

2.   Any natural person who, because of his financial situation, is wholly or partly unable to meet the costs referred to in paragraph 1 shall be entitled to legal aid.

The financial situation shall be assessed, taking into account objective factors such as income, capital and the family situation.

3.   Legal aid shall be refused if the action in respect of which the application is made appears to be manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded.

1.   An application for legal aid may be made before or after the action has been brought.

The application need not be made through a lawyer.

2.   The application for legal aid must be accompanied by all information and supporting documents making it possible to assess the applicant's financial situation, such as a certificate issued by the competent national authority attesting to his financial situation.

If the application is made before the action has been brought, the applicant must briefly state the subject-matter of the proposed action, the facts of the case and the arguments in support of the action. The application must be accompanied by supporting documents in that regard.

3.   The Tribunal may provide, in accordance with Article 120, for the compulsory use of a form in making an application for legal aid.

1.   Before giving its decision on an application for legal aid, the Tribunal shall invite the other party to submit its written observations unless it is already apparent from the information produced that the conditions laid down in Article 95(2) have not been satisfied or that those laid down in Article 94(3) have been satisfied.

2.   The decision on the application for legal aid shall be taken by way of an order by the President of the Tribunal or, if the case has already been assigned to a Chamber, by its President. He may refer the matter to the Tribunal.

An order refusing legal aid shall state the reasons on which it is based.

3.   In any order granting legal aid a lawyer shall be designated to represent the person concerned.

If the person has not indicated his choice of lawyer or if his choice is unacceptable, the Registrar shall send a copy of the order granting legal aid and a copy of the application to the competent authority of the Member State concerned mentioned in Annex II to the Rules supplementing the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice. The lawyer instructed to represent the applicant shall be designated having regard to the suggestions made by that authority.

An order granting legal aid may specify an amount to be paid to the lawyer instructed to represent the person concerned or fix a limit which the lawyer's disbursements and fees may not, in principle, exceed. It may provide for a contribution to be made by the person concerned to the costs referred to in Article 95(1), having regard to his financial situation.

4.   The introduction of an application for legal aid shall suspend the period prescribed for the bringing of the action until the date of notification of the order making a decision on that application or, in the cases referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3, of the order designating the lawyer instructed to represent the applicant.

5.   If the circumstances which led to the grant of legal aid should alter during the proceedings, the President may at any time, on his own motion or on application, withdraw legal aid, having heard the person concerned. He may refer the matter to the Tribunal.

An order withdrawing legal aid shall contain a statement of reasons.

6.   No appeal shall lie from orders made under this article.

1.   Where legal aid is granted, the President may, on application by the lawyer of the person concerned, decide that an amount by way of advance should be paid to the lawyer.

2.   Where, by virtue of the decision closing the proceedings, the recipient of legal aid has to bear his own costs, the President shall fix the lawyer's disbursements and fees which are to be paid by the cashier of the Tribunal by way of a reasoned order from which no appeal shall lie. He may refer the matter to the Tribunal.

3.   Where, in the decision closing the proceedings, the Tribunal has ordered another party to pay the costs of the recipient of legal aid, that other party shall be required to refund to the cashier of the Tribunal any sums advanced by way of aid.

In the event of challenge or if the party does not comply with a demand by the Registrar to refund those sums, the President shall rule by way of reasoned order from which no appeal shall lie. The President may refer the matter to the Tribunal.

4.   Where the recipient of the aid is unsuccessful, the Tribunal may, in ruling as to costs in the decision closing the proceedings, if equity so requires, order that one or more parties should bear their own costs or that those costs should be borne, in whole or in part, by the cashier of the Tribunal by way of legal aid.

1.   Where these Rules require a document to be served on a person, the Registrar shall ensure that service is effected:

The Registrar shall prepare and certify the copies of documents to be served, save where the parties themselves supply the copies in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 34(1).

2.   Where technical reasons connected with, in particular, the length of the document so require or where the document to be served is a judgment or an order, the document shall be served, if the addressee has failed to state an address for service, at his address in accordance with the procedures laid down in the first indent of paragraph 1. The addressee shall be so advised by telefax or other technical means of communication available to the Tribunal. Service shall then be deemed to have been effected on the addressee by registered post on the 10th day following the lodging of the registered letter at the post office of the place where the Tribunal has its seat, unless it is shown by the acknowledgement of receipt that the letter was received on a different date or the addressee informs the Registrar, within three weeks of being advised by telefax or another technical means of communication, that the document to be served has not reached him.

1.   Any period of time prescribed by the EC and EAEC Treaties, the Statute of the Court of Justice or these Rules for the taking of any procedural step shall be reckoned as follows:

2.   If the period would otherwise end on a Saturday, Sunday or official holiday, it shall be extended until the end of the first following working day.

The list of official holidays drawn up by the Court of Justice and published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall apply to the Tribunal.

3.   The prescribed time-limits shall be extended on account of distance by a single period of 10 days.

1.   Any time-limit prescribed pursuant to these Rules may be extended by whoever prescribed it.

2.   The President may delegate power of signature to the Registrar for the purpose of fixing certain time-limits which, pursuant to these Rules, it falls to the President to prescribe, or of extending such time-limits.

1.   An application to suspend the operation of any measure adopted by an institution, made pursuant to Article 242 of the EC Treaty and Article 157 of the EAEC Treaty, shall be admissible only if the applicant is challenging that measure in proceedings before the Tribunal.

An application for the adoption of any other interim measure referred to in Article 243 of the EC Treaty and Article 158 of the EAEC Treaty shall be admissible only if it is made by a party to a case before the Tribunal and relates to that case.

Those applications may be presented as soon as the complaint provided for in Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations has been submitted, in the conditions fixed in Article 91(4) of those Regulations.

2.   An application of a kind referred to in the previous paragraph shall state the subject-matter of the proceedings, the circumstances giving rise to urgency and the pleas of fact and law establishing a prima facie case for the interim measures applied for.

3.   The application shall be made by a separate document and in accordance with the provisions of Articles 34 and 35.

1.   The President of the Tribunal shall decide the applications submitted pursuant to Article 102(1).

2.   If the President of the Tribunal is absent or prevented from dealing with any such application, he shall be replaced by another Judge in the conditions fixed by a decision adopted by the Tribunal and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   The application shall be served on the opposite party, and the President of the Tribunal shall prescribe a short period within which that party may submit written or oral observations.

2.   The President of the Tribunal shall, where appropriate, prescribe measures of organisation of procedure and measures of inquiry.

3.   The President of the Tribunal may grant the application even before the observations of the opposite party have been submitted. This decision may subsequently be varied or cancelled, even of the President's own motion.

1.   The decision on the application shall take the form of a reasoned order.

2.   Enforcement of the order may be made conditional on the lodging by the applicant of security, of an amount and nature to be fixed in the light of the circumstances.

3.   Unless the order fixes the date on which the interim measure is to lapse, the measure shall lapse when final judgment is delivered.

4.   The order shall have only an interim effect, and shall be without prejudice to the decision on the substance of the case by the Tribunal.

1.   Any application to intervene must be made within four weeks of the date of publication of the notice referred to in Article 37(2).

2.   The application to intervene shall contain:

3.   Articles 34 and 35 shall apply.

4.   The intervener shall be represented in accordance with Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of Justice.

5.   The application to intervene shall be served on the parties, so as to permit them an opportunity to submit their written or oral observations and to indicate to the Registry, where appropriate, those documents which they consider to be secret or confidential and which, in consequence, they do not wish to be communicated to the interveners.

6.   The President shall decide on the application to intervene by way of order or shall refer it to the Tribunal. The order must be reasoned if the application is dismissed.

1.   If an intervention is allowed, the President shall prescribe a period within which the intervener may submit a statement in intervention.

2.   The intervener shall receive a copy of all the pleadings served on the parties. The President may, however, on application by one of the parties, omit secret or confidential documents.

3.   The statement in intervention shall contain:

4.   The statement in intervention is admissible only if it is made in support, in whole or in part, of the form of order sought by one of the parties.

5.   After the statement in intervention has been lodged, the President shall prescribe a time-limit within which the parties may reply in writing to that statement or shall invite them to present their replies during the oral procedure.

6.   For the purposes of these Rules, the intervener shall be treated as a party, save as otherwise provided.

1.   At any stage in the proceedings the President may, after hearing the parties, invite any person, any institution or any Member State concerned by the outcome of the dispute to inform the Tribunal if he or it wishes to intervene in the proceedings. The notice referred to in Article 37(2) shall be mentioned in the invitation.

2.   If the person, institution or Member State concerned informs the Tribunal within the period prescribed by the President that he or it wishes to intervene, the President shall inform the parties so as to permit them to indicate to the Registry, where appropriate, those documents which they consider to be secret or confidential and which, in consequence, they do not wish to be communicated to the person, institution or Member State concerned.

The provisions of Article 110(2) shall apply.

3.   The person, institution or Member State concerned shall present its statement in intervention within a month of the communication of the pleadings.

The provisions of Articles 34, 35, 109(2)(a) to (e) and (4) and 110(3) to (6) shall apply.

1.   Where, after setting aside a judgment or order of the Tribunal, the Court of First Instance refers the case back to the Tribunal by virtue of Article 13 of Annex I to the Statute of the Court of Justice, the Tribunal shall be seised of the case by the judgment so referring it.

2.   The President of the Tribunal shall assign the case either to the formation of the court which gave the decision which has been set aside or to another formation of the court.

However, where the decision set aside was given by a single Judge, the President of the Tribunal shall assign the case to a Chamber sitting with three Judges of which that Judge is not a member.

1.   Within two months from the service upon him of the judgment of the Court of First Instance the applicant may lodge a statement of written observations.

2.   In the month following the communication to it of that statement, the defendant may lodge a statement of written observations. The time allowed to the defendant for lodging that statement may in no case be less than two months from the service upon it of the judgment of the Court of First Instance.

3.   In the month following the simultaneous communication to the intervener of the observations of the applicant and the defendant, the intervener may lodge a statement of written observations. The time allowed to the intervener for lodging it may in no case be less than two months from the service upon him or it of the judgment of the Court of First Instance.

4.   By way of derogation from Article 114(1) to (3), where the written procedure before the Tribunal had not been completed when the judgment referring the case back to the Tribunal was delivered, it shall be resumed, at the stage which it had reached, by means of measures of organisation of procedure adopted by the Tribunal.

5.   The Tribunal may, if the circumstances so justify, allow supplementary statements of written observations to be lodged.

6.   The procedure shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Title 2 of these Rules.

1.   If a defendant on whom an application initiating proceedings has been duly served fails to lodge a defence to the application in the proper form within the time prescribed, the applicant may apply to the Tribunal for judgment by default.

The application shall be served on the defendant. The Tribunal may decide to open the oral procedure on the application.

2.   Before giving judgment by default the Tribunal shall consider whether the application initiating proceedings is admissible, whether the appropriate formalities have been complied with, and whether the application appears well founded. It may order a preparatory inquiry.

3.   A judgment by default shall be enforceable.

The Tribunal may, however, grant a stay of enforcement until it has given its decision on any application under paragraph 4 to set aside the judgment, or it may make enforcement subject to the provision of security of an amount and nature to be fixed in the light of the circumstances; this security shall be released if no such application is made or if the application fails.

4.   Application may be made to set aside a judgment by default.

The application to set aside the judgment must be made within one month from the date of service of the judgment.

It must be lodged in the form prescribed by Articles 34 and 35.

5.   After the application has been served, the President of the formation of the court shall prescribe a period within which the other party may submit his written observations.

The proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Title 2 of these Rules.

6.   The Tribunal shall decide by way of a judgment which may not be set aside. The original of this judgment shall be annexed to the original of the judgment by default. A note of the judgment on the application to set aside shall be made in the margin of the original of the judgment by default.

1.   In accordance with Article 42 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, third-party proceedings may be brought against a decision rendered without the third party's having been heard, where the decision is prejudicial to his rights.

If the contested decision has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the application must be lodged within two months of the publication.

2.   Articles 34 and 35 shall apply to an application initiating third-party proceedings. In addition such an application shall:

The application must be made against all the parties to the original case.

The application initiating third-party proceedings shall be assigned to the formation of the court which delivered the contested decision.

3.   The contested decision shall be varied on the points on which the submissions of the third party are upheld.

The original of the judgment in the third-party proceedings shall be annexed to the original of the contested decision. A note of the judgment in the third-party proceedings shall be made in the margin of the original of the contested decision.

4.   Where an appeal before the Court of First Instance and an application initiating third-party proceedings before the Tribunal contest the same decision of the Tribunal, the Tribunal may, after hearing the parties, stay the proceedings until the Court of First Instance has delivered its judgment.

5.   The Tribunal may, on application by the third party, order a stay of enforcement of the contested decision. The provisions of Title 3, Chapter 1, shall apply.

1.   In accordance with Article 43 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, if the meaning or scope of a decision is in doubt, the Tribunal may construe it on application by any party or any institution of the Communities establishing an interest therein.

Applications for interpretation shall not be subject to any condition as to time-limits.

2.   Articles 34 and 35 shall apply to an application for interpretation. In addition such an application shall:

The application must be made against all the parties to the case in which the decision of which interpretation is sought was given.

The application for interpretation shall be assigned to the formation of the court which gave the decision which is the subject of the application.

3.   The Tribunal shall give its decision by way of judgment after having given the parties an opportunity to submit their observations.

The original of the interpreting judgment shall be annexed to the original of the decision interpreted. A note of the interpreting judgment shall be made in the margin of the original of the decision interpreted.

4.   Where an appeal before the Court of First Instance and an application for interpretation before the Tribunal concern the same decision of the Tribunal, the Tribunal may, after hearing the parties, stay the proceedings until the Court of First Instance has delivered its judgment.

1.   In accordance with Article 44 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, an application for revision of a decision of the Tribunal may be made only on discovery of a fact which is of such a nature as to be a decisive factor and which, before the decision was delivered or adopted, was unknown to the Tribunal and to the party claiming the revision.

Without prejudice to the period of 10 years prescribed in the third paragraph of Article 44 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, an application for revision shall be made within three months of the date on which the facts on which the application is based came to the applicant's knowledge.

2.   Articles 34 and 35 shall apply to an application for revision. In addition such an application shall:

The application must be made against all the parties to the case in which the contested decision was given.

The application for revision shall be assigned to the formation of the court which gave the contested decision.

3.   The Tribunal shall give its decision by way of judgment on the admissibility of the application in the light of the parties' written observations.

If the Tribunal finds the application admissible, the remainder of the procedure shall be oral, unless the Tribunal otherwise decides. It shall give its decision by way of judgment.

The original of the revising judgment shall be annexed to the original of the decision revised. A note of the revising judgment shall be made in the margin of the original of the decision revised.

4.   Where an appeal before the Court of First Instance and an application for revision before the Tribunal concern the same decision of the Tribunal, the Tribunal may, after hearing the parties, stay the proceedings until the Court of First Instance has delivered its judgment.