(AGENPARL) - Roma, 3 Marzo 2023 - (AGENPARL) – ven 03 marzo 2023 Dear All,
Please find attached press release on the 2022 Judicial statistics of the Court of Justice:
Judicial statistics 2022: proceedings marked by the major issues facing today’s world (the rule of law, the environment, the protection of privacy in the digital era and so forth) and by the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union in the context of the war in Ukraine
The high number of cases brought before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union is confirmed for the fifth consecutive year
Kind regards,
Natassa Mouzouki
Press and Information Unit, Ireland / Malta
Communication Department
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Testo Allegato:
Communications Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

PRESS RELEASE No
42
/23

Luxembourg,

3 March 2023

Judicial statistics 2022: proceedings marked by the major issues facing
todayâ??s world (the rule of law, the environment, the protection of privacy
in the digital era and so forth) and by the restrictive

measures adopted by
the European Union in the context of the war in Ukraine

The high number of cases brought before the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union is
confirmed for the fifth consecutive year

The number of cases brought be
fore the two courts in 2022 is comparable to that of the previous year (1

710 cases
in 2022, as against 1

720 in 2021) and remains, therefore, at a very high level. Indeed,
a significant and structural
increase in the number of cases brought may be observe
d over the last five years, in particular before the
Court of Justice (+21
%
).

per year. The
number of cases brought before the General Court has stabilised, with an average of 883 cases brought per year.

666
cases in 2022, which corresponds to the average in recent years (1

and 2021).

General trend i
n the judicial activity of the I
nstitution
2018
–
202
2
pending

Communications Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

As regards the
subjects

cov
ered

by the cases brought before the two courts
, M
r

Koen
Lenaerts, Pr
e
sident
of the
Court of Justice

of the European Union
,
observes that

â??
the Institution is being called upon more than ever before to
on preserving the values intrinsic to the rule of law, protection of the
digital giants,

or

protection for consumers, the decisions of the C
ourt of Justice and of the General Court are directly
affecting the major issues of todayâ??s world
.
â??

In order to preserve its capacity to deliver high
–
quality decisions within a reasonable time
,
the Court of Justice
,
making use of the option afforded by the

Treaties,

submitted
a request

to the EU legislature on 30 November 2022,
seeking

a transfer of jurisdiction to the General Court to give

preliminary rulings in certain specific areas
,
as well as

d against decisions
of the General Court.

The Court of Justice

This year a high number of cases
was

bro
ught before the Court of Justice, in particular
in terms of

requests for a
preliminary ruling
.

The number of cases pending before the Court of Justice was stable

(1

111

cases

i
n 2022

as again
s
t

1

113
cases in

2021).

2022
s
lightly exceed
ed

the number of new cases brought that year.

Communications Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

General activity of the Court of Justice
â??

–
2022)

As regards the duration of proceedings
,
it
may

be seen that

an increasing number of cases

brought be
fore the
Court of Justice raise

sensit
ive and complex issues
,
calling for greater reflection and time
.
However, as a
result of the increased use of orders,

particularly in the matter of appeals
,
the overall duration of proceedings (16.4
months
)
remained similar to that of the previous year

(16
.6 months
).
That said
,
as a sign of the greater complexity of
the questions submitted to the Court of Justice,

a slight increase in the average duration of preliminary ruling
proceedings may be observed (17.
3
months
,
as against

16
.
7
months in

2021).

As regards

the origin of the re
ferences for a preliminary ruling
,
it may be noted that, in

2022,
the German

(98),
Italian

(63),
Bulgarian

(43),
Spanish

(41)
and Polish

(39)

courts made
the highest number of reques
ts for a
preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice
.

Communications Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

References for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice from the courts of the Member States (2022)

The General Court

After the cases linked to the health crisis

(
State aid
,
public procurement
,

commercial policy
,
public health
,
access to
documents

and staff

cases
) which marked

2021,
one of the major developments in 2022 was the emergence of
cases involving the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union in the context of the war in
Ukrain
e
.
More generally
,
cases involving restrictive measures
,
totalling 103 new cases
,
represented 11.4
%
of
all new cases brought in 2022

(
as against 4.8% in 2021 and 3% i
n 2020).

Thus,
the
President
of the General Court, Mr Marc
Van der Woude
observes that â??
in

view of the war in Ukraine and [of]
the international context
which continues to be shaped by greater pressures
, and of recent legislative developments
(
t
he
regulation of digital giants, t
he rules governing State aid, in particular in the field of taxatio
n and in the energy and
env
ironmental sectors
,
the protection of personal data
,â?¦),
we could see greater scrutiny of the legality of the acts of the EU
institutions
.
Make no mistake: the General Court is fully aware of its responsibilities

and will organise

itself in order to meet
them.
â??

In the
area

of
State aid
,
no fewer than

68
new cases were brought

(
as against 46 i
n 2021 and

42 i
n 2020).
1

By
contrast
,
a reduction in the number of new actions was recorded in the areas

of intellectual property (270 as agai
nst
308 in 2021 and 282 i
n 2020)
and staff cases

(66
as against 81 i
n 2021
and 120 i
n 2020).

As regards the number of cases

pending
,
it may be observed that
,
with

904
new cases brought and

858
cases
,
cases pending increased slightly to
1

474 (
as
against
1

428 i
n 2021).
The number of new cases brought
exceeds that of the two preceding years (882 in 2021 and 847 i
n 2020),
but remains lower than that of certain
previous years (939 in 2019, 917 in 2017, 974 in 2016, and 912 i
n 2014).
With

858
cases br
ought to a conclusion
,
the

2021 (951).
That 9.8
%
reduction is temporary in nature and stems
primarily from the bringing of a considerable number of cases in December 2022 and from the numerous changes
in judicial

composition resulting, first, from new judges taking up their duties during the first half of the year and,
secondly, the departures and arrivals of judges in September 2022 in the context of the three
–
yearly partial renewal
of the General Court.

1

Including 50 cases brought by legal and natural persons challenging the Commission decision relating to the State aid scheme
implemented by
Portugal in favour of the Madeira Free Zone.

Communications Directorate

Press and Information Unit

curia.europa.eu

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Genera
l activity of the General Court
â??

–
2022)

As regards the average duration of proceedings, this is very satisfactory.

It stood at 16.2 months for cases
brought to a close by judgment or by order (as again
st 17.3 months in 2021 and 15.4 months in 2020) and at 20.4
months for cases brought to a close by judgment only.

Unofficial document for media use, not binding on the Court of Justice.

Press contact: Jacques René Zammit
â??
(+352) 4303 3355