If there is one, just one, publication you should read in the judicial year it is the Court of Justice’s annual report.
The annual report for 2014 is out and available here.
Why is it essential reading ? Because it contains a terrific overview of 2014’s caselaw of the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal. Really ! All the major cases, including a lot we did not write up about on this blog, are neatly summarised.
There are also statistical annexes which are quite fascinating.
Thus, for the Court of Justice, had 622 new cases brought before it, a decrease of 11% (fewer appeals and references for a preliminary ruling). It brought 719 cases to a close in 2014, an increase compared with the previous year (701 in 2013). There were 428 references for a preliminary ruling in 2014.
The duration of proceedings has been reduced. References for a preliminary ruling now take about 15 months, which is a record. The average time taken to deal with direct actions and appeals was 20 months and 14.5 months respectively, again a decrease compared with 2013.
Use of the urgent preliminary ruling procedure was granted in four cases, and those cases were completed in an average period of 2.2 months as in 2013.
As for the General Court, an unprecedented number of new cases were brought before it in 2014 : 912 cases. The number of new cases brought increased significantly (on account, in particular, of large sets of connected cases concerning State aid and restrictive measures).
In 2014 the General Court competed 814 cases, a record and a considerable increase (16%) compared with the average of the previous three years, which were, however, themselves the most productive in the Court’s history. More broadly, analysis of this three-year average from 2008 shows productivity gains of more than 50% (an increase from 479 in 2008 to 735 in 2014).
The average decreased by 3.5 months (from 26.9 months in 2013 to 23.4 months in 2014), a change of more than 10%, returning to the figures recorded a decade ago.
For the annual report for 2013, see here.
EU litigation 