Werkdruk Europees Hof van Justitie nam af in 2004 (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Last year was the most productive year in the history of the European Court of Justice, according to new figures published on Friday (18 February) by the institution.

A total of 665 cases were completed in 2004 - an increase of 30% compared with the previous year.

And not only did the Court move faster, it also had fewer cases brought in during 2004, with 531 new cases brought before it, compared to 561 cases in 2003.

While no explanations were given for the drop in the number of cases, several factors were mentioned by the Court to explain the growing number of closed cases.

First of all, following the enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, ten new judges have arrived to the Court accompanied by a considerable number of staff.

"As a result the Court's capacity for coping with its workload has increased", the Court said.

In addition, a review of working methods has led to more cases (54%) being heard by the five-judge chambers in the Court. The three-judge chambers were used in 34% of cases and only in 12% of the cases was the Grand Chamber (13 Judges) assembled.

The Grand Chamber is only used when a member state or an EU institution that is a party to the proceedings requests it, or in particularly complex or important cases.

Finally, the Treaty of Nice, which entered into force in February 2003, has made a series of changes to the way in which the Court works. These include the ability of the Court to rule without first hearing an Opinion of the Advocate General.

The average length of preliminary reference proceedings fell from 25 to 23 months, during 2004, the statistics showed.

By the end of 2004, the number of cases pending before the Court was 840, compared to 974 at the end of 2003.

The Court of Justice is made up of 25 Judges and 8 Advocates-General