Has the European Union harmed you in the course of your work? Does any act issued by the EU violate its principles and affect you directly? You can bring an action for damages or annulment before the General Court of the EU. In this article we will tell you what conditions you need to meet to bring an action and how to do it.
The General Court is one of the courts of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is the EU’s main judicial institution, mainly responsible for ensuring uniform interpretation of the law in all Member States, enforcing the law and settling disputes.
The General Court was set up in 1989 to lighten the load of the Court of Justice and speed up court proceedings. It is made up of 54 judges – each member state has two judges, who are elected for six-year terms with the possibility of reappointment. The judges do not represent their own state, but act independently and impartially.
Its main function is to rule on actions brought by natural and legal persons, particularly in the areas of competition, state aid, trade marks, industrial designs and other commercial rights.
The General Court decides on a wide range of actions. However, many of these can only be brought by Member States or organisations. The main actions that can be brought by natural and legal persons include actions for damages and actions for annulment.
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You can bring this action if you want to claim compensation for damage caused to you by the European Union institutions in their administrative or legislative activities. This action cannot be brought before national courts, but only before the Court of Justice of the EU or the General Court. You must bring it within five years of the damage.
In an action for damages, the claimant must prove the existence of three elements:
The claimant must prove that there has been an unlawful act on the part of the EU institutions or their staff. The wrongfulness may be that the EU institution or its staff acted in breach of EU law or, on the contrary, failed to fulfil their duty to act where they were obliged to do so under EU law. A typical example is where an institution fails to take action that should have been taken within the time limit.
For an act (or failure to act) to be considered unlawful, it must be contrary to specific provisions of EU law that protect the legal position of the individual and must be a sufficiently serious breach to justify a claim for damages.
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The claimant must further prove that he has suffered actual and certain damage. This may be material damage (e.g. financial loss, loss of property) or non-material damage (e.g. injury to honour, mental anguish). The damage must be concrete and not hypothetical. It is not enough to say that the damage could have occurred in certain circumstances. It must be clearly established that the damage actually exists and is identifiable.
The claimant must therefore produce evidence of the extent of the damage and provide specific details of its amount. This may include accounting records, expert reports, witness statements or other documents which show that the damage has actually occurred and what its value is.
The claimant must establish the existence of a causal link between the unlawful conduct of the EU institutions (or their servants) and the damage alleged. That is, it must be clearly established that the damage was caused as a direct result of the unlawful conduct. If the damage would have occurred even in the absence of that conduct, then there is no causal link.
Tip: European Union law can be a rather controversial topic. It touches all sorts of parts of our lives and affects many areas of our national law. How much power does the EU have and on what principles does EU law work? Find out in our article.
You can bring this action if you want to have an act issued by a European Union institution, body or organisation annulled. It can be brought against virtually all legally binding EU acts (e.g. acts adopted by the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament or other bodies with legal effects against third parties).
An action for annulment can only be brought against an act in which you have a legal interest. This means that it must be addressed to you directly, or it can be addressed generally, but it must affect you personally.
Furthermore, the action must be brought within two months of the publication of the act or the date on which you were notified of its adoption.
If the General Court decides that the action is well-founded (for example, because the act violates the EU’s founding treaties, the rules implementing the treaties, or there was an abuse of power in its adoption), it will declare the act or parts of it invalid.
On the basis that the above elements must be met, it is a good idea to include in the application:
Tip: Did you know that your rights and freedoms are protected internationally and that there is a court you can go to if they are violated? This is the European Court of Human Rights, which is part of the Council of Europe. You can read more about it in our article.
Natural and legal persons can bring actions for damages or for the annulment of acts issued by EU institutions. To bring an action for damages, it is necessary to prove that the EU institutions have acted unlawfully, that there is actual and certain damage and that there is a causal link between the conduct and the damage. An action for annulment can be brought against legally binding EU acts and must be brought within two months of the publication of the act.
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