Preliminary reference

"Preliminary reference" refers to the European Court of Justice's jurisdiction to answer questions of Community law. A member state court can refer a question to the ECJ as a preliminary reference if it concerns:

1. the interpretation of the Treaty Establishing the European Community
2. the interpretation of acts of Community institutions
3. the interpretation of Community statutes

The procedure was laid out in Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC).

Some court cases pertaining to preliminary reference:

• Bosch v. de Geus (Case 13/61), the first case brought to the ECJ under preliminary reference, established that the procedure is meant to help both European and member state courts to resolve misunderstandings of the law.
• Van Gend en Loos v. Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen (Case 26/62) established the dual vigilance procedure, where state courts must enforce Community law within their own borders, reserving preliminary reference for genuine questions about the law.
• Costa v. ENEL (Case 6/64) established that a member state court of last resort cannot make a ruling on a conflict between national law and Community law without first making a preliminary reference to the ECJ.
• Stauder v. Ulm (Case 29/69) gave states the ability to use preliminary reference to clarify mistranslations of laws.
• Rheinmuhlen-Dusseldorf v Einfuhr- und Vorratsstelle fur Getreide und Futtermittel (Case 146/73) stated that the procedure was "essential for the preservation of the Community character of the law, and that it "has the object of ensuring that... the law is the same in all States of the Community."