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The EU court concluded that Croatian case law is not in line with EU law

by AI | 12.Jul 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The CJEU ruled that the Croatian mechanisms for harmonizing judicial practice are not in accordance with the European legal acquis.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bänsch/dpa

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BRUSSELS – The Court of the European Union ruled on Wednesday that the Croatian mechanism for standardizing judicial practice, which allows judges who were not members of the judicial panel in a case to change an already made decision, is not in accordance with EU law.

“The judicial panel responsible for the case must independently make the decision that concludes the procedure. Any unwarranted interference by individuals who are not members of the judicial panel must be excluded,” the EU Court of Justice said in a statement.

The EU Court’s decision is a response to a query from the Croatian High Commercial Court, which sought an opinion on whether this practice is in accordance with EU law.

In Croatian appellate courts, before it is considered formally made and can be delivered to the parties, every decision made by a judicial panel must be forwarded to the reviewing judge of the respective court.

The reviewing judge is appointed by the president of the respective court. In practice, he has the authority to delay the issuance of the judgment and give instructions to the judicial panel. The parties are unaware of his involvement or name. If the judicial panel does not follow his instructions, the reviewing judge can request a meeting of the case law harmonization department.

At this meeting, a “legal understanding” can be accepted, which is binding for all judicial panels within the department. The respective judicial panel, which has already concluded its deliberations, must, if necessary, change its previously made judicial decision.

This procedure is justified by the need to standardize judicial practice.

The EU Court replied that EU law opposes national law provisions that foresee an internal mechanism in a national court whereby a judicial decision made by a judicial panel competent in the case can be delivered to the parties for its completion only if its content is approved by a reviewing judge who is not a member of that judicial panel.(July 11, 2024)

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