Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Procedure – Absolute bar to proceeding – To be considered of the Court’s own motion – Disappearance of the interest in bringing proceedings in the course of proceedings – Included

(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 113)

2. Actions for annulment – Natural or legal persons – Interest in bringing proceedings – Need for an actual and current interest

(Art. 230 EC)

3. Fundamental rights – Right to effective judicial protection – Limits – Compliance with the conditions governing the admissibility of an action

(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47)

Summary

1. Under Article 113 of the Rules of Procedure, the General Court may at any time, of its own motion, after hearing the parties, decide whether there exists any absolute bar to proceeding with an action or declare that the action has become devoid of purpose and that there is no need to adjudicate on it.

Accordingly, lack of legal interest in bringing proceedings constitutes an absolute bar to proceedings, which the Courts of the European Union may raise of their own motion. The Courts of the European Union may also consider, of their own motion, whether an interest in bringing proceedings has ceased to exist in the course of the proceedings.

(see paras 59-60)

2. An action for annulment and/or alteration of a decision brought by a natural or legal person is admissible only in so far as that person has an interest in the annulment and/or alteration of the contested measure. Such an interest presupposes that the annulment and/or alteration of that measure must of itself be capable of having legal consequences or, to apply another formulation, that the action must be liable, if successful, to procure an advantage for the party who has brought it and that that person has a vested and present interest in the annulment and/or alteration of that measure.

Such an interest must continue until the final judgment, failing which there will be no need to adjudicate. That requirement ensures at a procedural level that, in the interest of the proper administration of justice, the courts are not asked to give purely hypothetical opinions and/or to deal with purely hypothetical questions.

Moreover, if the interest pleaded by an applicant concerns a future legal situation, he must demonstrate that the prejudice to that situation is already certain. Therefore, an applicant cannot plead future uncertain circumstances to establish his interest in applying for annulment and/or alteration of the contested measure. Moreover, it is the applicant himself who must prove that he has an interest in bringing proceedings, which is an essential and fundamental prerequisite for any legal proceedings.

(see paras 77-80)

3. The ‘right to a court’, of which the right of access to a court is one aspect, which is guaranteed by Article 6 of the ECHR, affirmed by Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, is not absolute and is subject to implicit limitations, in particular as regards the conditions of admissibility of an action. Those limitations must not however restrict a litigant’s access in such a way or to such an extent that the very essence of the right is impaired. They must pursue a legitimate aim and there must be a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim sought to be achieved.

In this respect, while the requirement of an interest in bringing proceedings may appear to be a limitation on the right to a court, that condition clearly does not constitute an impairment to the very essence of that right, since the requirement that the applicant has, at the time the action is brought and until the final judgment, an interest in bringing proceedings against a measure allegedly adversely affecting him pursues a legitimate aim which is ultimately to prevent, in the interest of the proper administration of justice, the Courts of the European Union from having to deal with purely hypothetical questions, the answer to which is not capable of giving rise to legal consequences or of procuring an advantage for the applicant.

(see paras 97, 99)