Court of Justice

The Court of Justice, together with the national courts, is the European Community’s judiciary.

The Court’s main task is to interpret and apply treaties and Community law uniformly and to rule on its validity. It answers questions referred to it by the national courts, which apply Community law at local level.

The judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities — together with the treaties, regulations, directives and decisions — make up Community law.

The Court of Justice of the European Communities is composed of three courts: the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the Court of First Instance and the Civil Service Tribunal.

The Court of First Instance mainly deals with cases taken by individuals and companies directly before the EU's courts. The ECJ primarily deals with cases taken by member states, the institutions and cases referred to it by the courts of member states. Decisions from the Court of First Instance can be appealed to the Court of Justice, but only on a point of law.

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