A preliminary ruling is a decision of the

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(ECJ) on the interpretation of

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that is given in response to a request (a preliminary reference) from a court or a tribunal of a

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. A preliminary ruling is a final determination of European Union law, with no scope for appeal. The ECJ hands down its decision to the referring court, which is then obliged to implement the ruling. Preliminary rulings are issued by the ECJ. The

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provides that jurisdiction may be delegated to the General Court, but that provision has yet to be put into effect. If, as in '' Factortame'', the ECJ holds that a member state's legislation conflicts with EU law, the member state is required to "disapply" such law, but the ECJ may not amend the member state's legislation itself. Preliminary rulings make up the bulk of business in the

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since few persons have '' locus standi'' to litigate in the Luxembourg court. "Privileged parties" with standing include all member states and EU institutions, but a private person or "undertaking" has standing only if it is the addressee of an EU decision.

Procedure

If a court or tribunal of a member state finds a provision of

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to be ambiguous, equivocal or unclear, it may seek a preliminary ruling, and a court or tribunal from which there is no appeal must make an application: this may include a body with both

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and last instance powers. The case before the domestic court will be adjourned until the ECJ ruling is issued. The question to the ECJ must be short and succinct, but it may be accompanied by documents explaining the issue's context and circumstances. There is provision for litigants to comment on the reference: for example, in the case of pressetext Nachrichtenagentur GmbH v Republik Österreich (case C-454/06), the Austria Press Agency (APA) and its subsidiary APA-OTS criticised the reference as "complex and not readily comprehensible". The ECJ may decline to give judgement in the absence of a genuine dispute on the basis that it will not consider "general or hypothetical questions". Article 267 of the

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provides: That is qualified by Article 275 (excluding Common Foreign and Security Policy) and Article 276 (excluding member state acts in the

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Right and duty to refer for preliminary ruling

The highest court in a jurisdiction must refer and lower courts may refer to Article 267 TFEU. For the rules in the United Kingdom while it was an EU member state, see s 2(1) European Communities Act 1972 and Part 68 Civil Procedure Rules. Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), establishing the preliminary reference procedure, differentiates between the right and the duty of national courts to seek a preliminary ruling. Under the discretionary reference stipulated in Article 267(2) TFEU, a national "court or tribunal" may ask the ECJ to give a preliminary ruling if it considers that a decision on the question is "necessary" to enable it to judge a particular case. The obligatory reference (duty to refer) is established in two cases: with respect to national courts adjudicating at last instance (Article 267(3) TFEU) and with respect of all courts faced with a question of the validity of EU law. The function of the obligation to refer is "to prevent a body of national case law not in accord with the rules of Ulaw from coming into existence in any member state": Case 107/76 ''Hoffmann-La Roche v Centrafarm'' at 5. Both the highest court in a member state and the Benelux court has the obligation to refer: Case C-337/95 ''Parfums Christian Dior v Evora''. The obligation of national courts of last instance to refer for a preliminary ruling when a question of the interpretation of EU law arises is subject to certain exceptions. In accordance with the jurisprudence of the Court, a national court is relieved from the duty to refer when questions of EU law are not relevant to the decision in the main proceedings, if a national court is "materially identical with a question which has already been subject of a preliminary ruling in a similar case" () or if when the proper interpretation of EU law is "so obvious as to leave no scope for any reasonable doubt".().

Courts that may ask questions

What constitutes a "court or tribunal" is a matter of EU law and is not to be determined by reference to national law. In determining whether or not a body is a "court or tribunal of Member State", the EU courts take a number of issues into account: whether it is established by law is permanent, has compulsory jurisdiction, has an ''inter partes'' procedure, applies rules of law and is independent. Only a body that "is established by law... is permanent...

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jurisdiction is compulsory...

procedure is inter partes... applies rules of law and... is independent" can be a court or tribunal that may refer: Case C-53/03 ''Syfait v GlaxoSmithKlein'' at 29. A body with the right to refer under EU law cannot be deprived of it by national law: Cases 146/73 and 166/73 ''Rheinmühlen''. However, those criteria are not absolute. In ''Broekmeulen v Huisarts Registratie Commissie'', the

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ruled that a body established under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Society for the Promotion of Medicine was a "court or tribunal" within the meaning of the treaty even though the society was a private association. Also, the Benelux Court of Justice was considered a court within that context as a court common to several (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) member states. Also, the

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, as a court common to several member states is expected to have the ability to ask prejudicial questions.

Grounds

Such a reference is possible for all EU acts regardless of

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: at 28. However, the ECJ will not hear preliminary references arising out of hypothetical disputes: . The ECJ requires the referring court to "define the factual and legal context of the questions it is asking or, at the very least, explain the assumptions of fact on which those questions are based" so that the ECJ can assist the national court.

Interpreting non-EU instruments

The ECJ is competent to give rulings on the interpretation of treaties to which the EU is a party, as those treaties are considered to be part of EU law. Decisions of the ECJ are in such a case binding only on the EU, not the other parties to the agreement. The ECJ claims jurisdiction to interpret international agreements concluded by the

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since they are acts of an EU institution: . That extends to the

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for which EU has substituted its member states: . That also applies to mixed agreements even if the issue only partly falls within EU law: at 32. The ECJ claims jurisdiction even over acts of institutions established by an association agreement: . In contrast, the claim does not extend to an international agreement that was concluded by a member state before its EU accession if the agreement conflicts with EU law: . The ECJ has jurisdiction confined to EU law and cannot consider the extent of reference to EU law by national provisions, which are a matter of national law: at 42. The ECJ does not interpret national law that is worded identically to EU provisions: . The ECJ is also competent regarding the application of certain treaties between EU member states but may be subject to different procedures. Two such treaties are the 1968 Brussels Convention on jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters and the 1980 Rome Convention on applicable law, which are now mostly replaced by the Brussels I and the Rome I Regulations, respectively. A peculiarity relates to arbitration on the

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since arbiters must ask for a preliminary ruling in matters of EU law that is binding upon both the EU and the UK. Based on the same agreement, UK courts must or may ask for a preliminary ruling regarding how Northern Ireland has EU law applied, which is related mainly to trade in goods.

Effects

The ECJ judgment in a reference is declaratory, and remedies, costs, etc. are matters for national courts. The ECJ may choose to rule only on the validity and the interpretation of EU law and to leave the application to the facts to the national court that made the reference: . Alternatively, it may choose to rule very closely to the facts in the case: . If the ECJ already ruled on a point in a previous case, there is no obligation to refer: . The decision is then ''

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'' (at least in the weak sense) and binds the national court ''a quo'' that made the reference, and future similar cases on the same issue require no further reference if the answer is "so obvious as to leave no scope for any reasonable doubt":
ECJ Rules of Procedure Article 104(3)
"Where national legislation has been the subject of different relevant judicial constructions, some leading to the application of that legislation in compliance with Ulaw, others leading to the opposite application, it must be held that, at the very least, such legislation is not sufficiently clear to ensure its application in compliance with Ulaw": at 33. The ECJ judgment has the force of ''res judicata'' and is binding not only on the national court on whose initiative the reference for a preliminary ruling was made but also on all member states' national courts. In the United Kingdom when it was a member state, ''res judicata'' was in the strong sense: a previous ECJ ruling would bind of its courts
s 3(1) European Communities Act 1972
In the context of a reference for a preliminary ruling concerning validity, if the European instrument is declared invalid, all of the instruments adopted based on it are also invalid. It then falls to the competent European institutions to adopt a new instrument to rectify the situation.

Similar systems

The possibility to ask for a preliminary ruling is also embedded in other legal systems: *The courts of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg may ask "questions regarding the interpretation of the law" to the Benelux Court of Justice regarding certain Benelux conventions and regulations. *Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway may request the EFTA Court of Justice for an

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regarding the interpretation of the

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Agreement, as well as EU regulations that apply to those states.