Jörgen Hettne explains that the General Court is part of the same institution as the EU Court of Justice and situated in the same building in Luxemburg. It was created in 1988 to be a first instance in the EU judicial system and most of its judgments can be appealed to the Court of Justice. It was initially specialised in competition law, state aid law and staff cases. Today, however, its competence is much more general including trademark cases, various trade related issues, such as custom duties (tariffs), dumping, economic sanctions and cases concerning the new digital legislation, like the Digital Market Act and Digital Services Act. The General Court has also been empowered to give preliminary rulings on request from national courts in some areas. And, to mention a case which recently attracted attention, it was the General Court who blamed the Commission for not divulging the lost text message from Ursula von der Leyen to the CEO of Pfizer, concerning Covid-19 vaccine. All these issues relate to my research profile and I’m enthusiastic about the opportunity to apply these EU rules in practice.
Read the full article at LUSEM's webpage: LUSEM Professor, new Judge at the EU General Court