Guest Book Review: European Court Procedure

European Court Procedure: A Practical Guide by Viktor Luszcz (previously Référendaire at the General Court of the EU, and currently a Member of the Budapest Bar) aims to provide a comprehensive reference tool for practising lawyers, offer guidance to national judges dealing with cases raising points of EU law and in addition, insights into the reasoning process of the EU Courts, to the interest to scholars. To see if the book is able to live up to these ambitions, a review if provided by Michael Edenborough QC, who practises from Serle Court in all areas of IP law. In particular, he has appeared in over 50 cases before the General Court and the CJEU on appeals and Article 267 references.

The forward by Mr Marc van der Woude, President of the General Court of the European Union concludes: “More than just another new theoretical study, this book really is a practical and useful tool that I sincerely recommend.”

The Publishers’ summary opens with “The new Rules of Procedure of the General Court, in force as of 2015, as well as the reform of the General Court and the re-establishment of a two-tier EU judiciary in September 2016 are the last bricks in the post-Lisbon legal structure governing litigation before the EU Courts. This work covers the already sizeable case-law developed after the completion of these reforms and explains the changes in the Courts’ practice entailed by them. Written by experienced EU Court and Commission insiders, it gives a detailed and practice-oriented overview of the whole spectrum of litigation procedure before the EU judiciary. … .”

The book is divided into five parts: 1) Enforcement of EU Law and Judicial Organisation of the EU; 2) Enforcement of EU Law against Member States and Private Parties; 3) Protection against Acts of the EU; 4) Procedure before the EU Courts; and, 5) Incidental and Ancillary Procedure Issues. It is the last two Parts that reflect the strengths of the authors being insiders as they can speak with authority on the minutiae of procedure that will guide the novice and reassure the experienced practitioner.

Checking the coast is clear
for a cat costume change!
Image: Garen M.

However, while the authors clearly know the relevant general procedural legislation, they do not seem to be well versed in all the details of IP – for example, the Community Plant Variety Office was originally based in Brussels and only moved to Angers as of 6 December 1996 and so it was not “in 1994, … established in Angers (France)”. Similarly, the discussion about the Unitary Patent is cursory and slightly misleading in some respects. Further, with respect to some aspects of procedure in IP cases, I noticed that a relevant case about the validity of a signature on a document was omitted; the discussion on suspensory effect of an appeal to the CJEU from the GC is less certain than portrayed, having had the EUIPO argue a different result in a case in which I was involved; the role of cross-claims could usefully be more fulsome, for example how the rules have changed and so what now triggers the need for a cross-claim; and I would imagine that more discussion about what actually happens at a hearing would be appreciated by those who have not attended a hearing before – there are many points that are useful to know, for example speaking to the translators before the hearing about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it, and even where to change (not in a remote corridor as I once did!). 

Therefore, in summary, this is a wonderful source of information about the legislation and related case law on procedure before the GC and CJEU, but with respect to the IP elements a certain circumspection ought to be exercised when straying into the finer details.

Published 29 October 2020 by Hart Publishing, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, xlviii + 730 pp, RRP £175 for Hardback edition, or £157.50 for PDF or EPUB eBook editions, with 10% or 20% discount respectively if purchased on-line.