Avis juridique important

Order of the Court of 1 October 1997. - Regione Toscana v Commission of the European Communities. - Action for annulment - Manifest lack of jurisdiction of the Court - Referral to the Court of First Instance. - Case C-180/97. European Court reports 1997 Page I-05245

Summary

Procedure - Division of powers between the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance - Action for annulment - Actions by Member States - Concept - Action brought before the Court of Justice by a regional authority of a Member State - Manifest lack of jurisdiction of the Court of Justice - Referral to the Court of First Instance

(EC Treaty, Art. 173; EC Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 47(2); Council Decisions 88/591, 93/350 and 94/149)

Since the entry into force of Decision 94/149, the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice is limited to actions brought by a Member State or by a Community institution.

In that respect, it is clear from the general scheme of the Treaties that the term Member State, for the purposes of the institutional provisions and, in particular, those relating to proceedings before the courts, refers only to government authorities of the Member States of the European Communities and cannot include the governments of regions or of autonomous communities, irrespective of the powers they may have. If the contrary were true, it would undermine the institutional balance provided for by the Treaties, which determine, inter alia, the conditions under which the Member States, that is to say the States party to the Treaties establishing the Communities and the Accession Treaties, participate in the functioning of the Community institutions. It is not possible for the European Communities to comprise a greater number of Member States than the number of States between which they were established.

Accordingly, when an action for annulment is brought before it on the basis of the fourth paragraph of Article 173 of the Treaty by a regional authority, which must be considered to be a legal person for the purposes of that provision, the Court of Justice clearly has no jurisdiction to take cognizance of it and must refer it to the Court of First Instance pursuant to the second paragraph of Article 47 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice.