Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1 . Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court - Measures adopted by the institutions - Recommendations

( EEC Treaty, Art . 177 )

2.Measures adopted by the institutions - Legal nature - To be assessed on the basis of the content of the measure - Recommendation characterized by the absence of any intention to produce binding effects

( EEC Treaty, Art . 189 )

3.Measures adopted by the institutions - Recommendations - Direct effect - None - Consideration by the national court - Obligation - Scope

( EEC Treaty, Art . 189, fifth paragraph )

Summary

1.Unlike Article 173 of the EEC Treaty, which excludes review by the Court of acts in the nature of recommendations, Article 177 confers on the Court jurisdiction to give a preliminary ruling on the validity and interpretation of all acts of the institutions of the Community without exception . It therefore has jurisdiction to rule on the interpretation of recommendations adopted on the basis of the Treaty .

2 . Since the choice of form cannot alter the nature of a measure, the court required to interpret a measure described as a recommendation in order to determine its scope must ascertain whether the measure is not in fact, in view of its content, intended to produce binding effects .

3.Recommendations which, according to the fifth paragraph of Article 189 of the Treaty, are not binding are generally adopted by the institutions of the Community when they do not have the power under the Treaty to adopt binding measures or when they consider that it is not appropriate to adopt more mandatory rules . Since they are measures which, even as regards the persons to whom they are addressed, are not intended to produce binding effects, they cannot create rights upon which individuals may rely before a national court .

However, since recommendations cannot be regarded as having no legal effect at all, the national courts are bound to take them into consideration in order to decide disputes submitted to them, in particular where they cast light on the interpretation of national measures adopted in order to implement them or where they are designed to supplement binding Community provisions .