Niveau juridique : Union européenne
Texte de la question :
Over the last 10 years, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has developed an established body of case law regarding the compatibility of international courts with EU law (1).
In its judgment in Paul Miles and Others v European Schools (2011), the CJEU stated that : “ the Complaints Board [at hand] is not such a court common to […] Member States. Whereas the Benelux Court […] procedure […] is a step in the proceedings before the national courts leading to definitive interpretations of common Benelux legal rules […], the Complaints Board does not have any such links with the judicial systems of the Member States. ”
The CJEU’s criterion for a “ court common to […] Member States ” is that it should have functional links with the courts of the Member States when it has to apply EU law and cooperate with the CJEU.
1. Does the proposed Unified Patent Court comply with this criterion ?
2. If so, what are its links with the courts of the Member States ?
(1) European and EU Patent Court (2011), Miles (2011), European Court of Human Rights (2014), Oberto (2015), Achmea (2018), CETA (2019).
Réponse donnée par Mr Breton au nom de la Commission le 10 mars 2020
« In its Opinion 1/09 (1), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has thoroughly assessed the compatibility of the draft Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) with the EU treaties. The CJEU’s objections raised in that Opinion were effectively addressed in the final text of the UPCA (2), signed on 19 February 2013.
In this respect, the Commission wishes to recall that, pursuant to Article 21 of the UPCA, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is considered ‘a court common to the Contracting Member States and as part of their judicial system.’
As such, the UPC ‘shall cooperate with the Court of Justice of the European Union to ensure the correct application and uniform interpretation of Union law, as any national court, in accordance with Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), in particular.’ That article also stipulates that decisions of the CJEU shall be binding on the UPC.
Furthermore, Article 38 of Annex I to the UPCA containing the Statute of the UPC establishes that ‘the procedures established by the Court of Justice of the European Union for referrals for preliminary rulings within the European Union shall apply.’
(1) eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:62009CV0001&from=FR
(2) eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C:2013:175:FULL&from=en »
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