Avis juridique important

61998O0028

European Court reports 1999 Page I-01963

Summary

Keywords

Preliminary rulings - Admissibility of questions referred - Where the order for reference gives no indication of the factual or legislative context and fails to give reasons justifying the reference to the Court (EC Treaty, Art. 177; EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 20)

In order to reach an interpretation of Community law which will be of use to the national court, it is essential that the national court define the factual and legislative context of the questions it is asking or, at the very least, explain the factual circumstances on which those questions are based.

The information provided and the questions raised in orders for reference must not only be such as to enable the Court usefully to reply but must also make it possible for the governments of the Member States and other interested parties to submit observations pursuant to Article 20 of the Statute of the Court of Justice. It is for the Court to ensure that this possibility is safeguarded, given that, pursuant to the aforementioned provision, only the orders for reference are notified to the interested parties.

Consequently, a reference from a national court for a preliminary ruling is manifestly inadmissible where it does not contain any information which satisfies the above requirements with respect to the factual and legal context of the dispute before the national court or the reasons for which that Court considers it necessary to refer certain questions to the Court of Justice.