necessary to enable judgment to be given.35 The acts which can be challenged are those of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the EU.36 Art 256(3) TFEU accords the General Court jurisdiction to give rulings in certain areas laid down by the Statute of the Court of Justice,37 but the majority of these rulings still continue to be decided by the Court of Justice.
(iii)
Actions for annulment
EU acts may be the subject of judicial review in actions commenced directly before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The principal treaty provision in this area is Art 263 TFEU (ex Art 230 EC).
Five (5) conditions must be satisfied before an act can be successfully challenged: (i) The relevant body must be amenable to judicial review (ii) The act has to be of a kind which is open to challenge (iii) The institution or person making the challenge must have standing to do so (iv) There must be illegality of a type mentioned in Art 263(2) TFEU (v) The challenge must be brought within the time limit stipulated in Art 263(6) TFEU. Criterion (iii) (standing) has been one of the most contested areas of EU law to date and has been heavily criticised as confining too narrowly the ability of private parties (non-privileged applicants) to challenge legislative and administrative acts.38 Jurisdiction with regard to actions by non-privileged applicants was transferred to the General Court in the early 1990s and now such cases only come before the Court of Justice on appeal.39 (a)
Privileged and quasi-privileged applicants
Art 263 (2) TFEU states that actions may be brought by a Member State, the European Parliament, the Council or the Commission. These applicants are always allowed to bring an action, even where the decision is addressed to some other person or body. The justifications proffered in this regard are that every Union act concerns privileged applicants and so it follows that they should be granted unlimited standing.40
35
Art 267(3) TFEU Art 267(1)(b) TFEU 37 Art 62 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union. 38 See Craig and de Burca, above n 2, Chapter 14; Hartley, above n 1, Chapter 12; Wyatt and Dashwood, European Union Law (Sweet and Maxwell, 2011), Chapter 6. 39 Hartley, above n 1, p. 379 40 See Hartley, TC ‘The Foundations of European Union Law,’ 7th edition (OUP, 2010) Chapter 12. 36
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