Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI)
Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI) : The CFI was set up in 1989 to strengthen the protection of individuals' interests by introducing a second tier of judicial authority, allowing the Court of Justice of the European Union to concentrate on its basic task of ensuring the uniform interpretation and application of Community law. The CFI is currently made up of 15 judges appointed by common accord of the Governments of the Member States to hold office for a renewable term of six years. It should be noted that in response to a request submitted by the Court of Justice, outside the framework of the Intergovernmental Conference, the Permanent Representatives' Committee agreed to increase the number of judges for the CFI to 21. The arrangements regarding the system of rotation for appointments still has to be decided. The Treaty of Nice (2001) introduced greater flexibility for adapting the CFI's statute, which can henceforth be amended by the Council acting unanimously at the request of the Court of Justice or of the European Commission. The approval of the rules of procedure of the Court of Justice and of the Court of First Instance will in future be by qualified majority. To ease the workload of the Court of Justice, the Treaty of Nice also aimed to improve the distribution of responsibilities between the Court and the CFI, making the CFI the ordinary court for all direct actions (appeals against a decision, failure to act, damages, etc)., with the exception of those assigned to a judicial panel and those reserved for the Court of Justice. The Treaty also provides for the creation, based on a right of initiative shared between the Court of Justice and the Commission, of judicial panels to examine at first instance certain types of actions in specific matters to relieve the burden on the CFI. Finally, the Nice Treaty provides for the possibility of conferring on the CFI the right to deliver preliminary rulings in certain specific areas. See: Court of Justice of the European Union; Treaties
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