National Courts and the CJEU: A Common Judicial System

The European Union’s (EU) judicial system consists of two main pillars: the national courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)—the latter consisting currently of two courts, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the General Court. National courts are important as EU law is to a large extent applied at the national rather than Union level. The question of the conformity of national acts with Union law cannot as a rule be brought directly before the CJEU but should be raised before a national court, which may, and in some instances must, request a preliminary ruling from the ECJ on the proper interpretation and, as the case may be, validity of relevant Union legal norms. It is up to the national courts to decide whether, and on what grounds, to request a preliminary ruling and they also then determine the facts of the case and the content of applicable national law. After having received the ruling of the ECJ, the national court will decide on the final outcome of the case.