International Judicial Monitor
Published by the International Judicial Academy, Washington, D.C., with assistance from the
American Society of International Law
Fall 2014 Issue
 

International Tribunal Spotlight

 

Benelux Court of Justice 
Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International Judicial Monitor and President, International Judicial Academy

In March, 1965 three countries within the geographical area that would become part of the European Union signed a treaty that created the Benelux Economic Union, an organization composed of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. This economic union had its origin in a customs union created in 1944, before the end of World War II.

The Benelux Union has a Committee of Ministers, a Parliament, a Council, and a Secretary General. One of the aims of the Economic Union is the unification of the law of the three countries. The Secretary-General of the Union is located in Brussels.

The  1965 treaty of the parties established the Benelux Court of Justice, which went into effect in 1975. It was originally not a part of the Economic Union, but its budget was established by the Economic Union. A treaty signed by the parties in 2005 to renew the original agreement changed the name of the organization to the Benelux Union and brought the court within the provisions of the newly designated organization. That treaty also established the Benelux Organization for Intellectual Property, which replaced two earlier institutions, the Benelux Trademark Office and the Benelux Designs Office. This new organization is the “official body for the registration of trademarks and designs” in the Benelux countries. A new protocol set for ratification by the parliaments of the member states will allow appeals in intellectual property cases be made directly to the Court of Justice, by-passing the supreme courts of the three nations, saving time and money for litigants and reducing pressure on the three supreme courts.

  

Interesting is the fact that one of the Benelux treaties provided for the creation of a College of Arbitrators designed to settle disputes between the parties. Arbitrators were actually nominated to this new body in 1962, but it has been inactive since that time because many disputes between the parties have been settled politically, outside court processes.

By tradition, judges from the supreme courts of the three participating countries provide the nine judges who sit on the Benelux Court of Justice.  The Court is also composed of three Advocates General.

The Benelux Court of Justice has two basic functions: receiving and responding to requests for preliminary rulings from the supreme courts of the three states on laws and regulations common to them; and hearing civil service cases involving personnel from the Economic Union and the Organization for Intellectual Property. The Court has given opinions in nine categories of cases: trademarks, penalty payments, liability insurance for motor vehicles, industrial design rights, movement of persons, mutual assistance in tax matters, hunting and bird conservation, equal fiscal treatment of companies, and intellectual property.

The Court has been active since its inception. From the time of its founding to the beginning of 2014, it has given 228 judgments, 173 preliminary rulings, 43 decisions in civil service cases, one advisory opinion, and one decision regarding the rules of court.

Because the member states are part of the European Union, the Benelux Court is considered a part of the European legal system. As such, it may request  preliminary rulings from the European Court of Justice on the application of European Union law to issues before it.

     

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© 2014 – The International Judicial Academy
with assistance from the American Society of International Law.

Editor: James G. Apple.
IJM welcomes comments, suggestions, and submissions.
Please contact the IJM editor at ijaworld@verizon.net.