The Role of National Courts in the Preliminary Ruling Procedure

Prethodni je postupak institut utemeljen još Osnivačkim ugovorom, uređen člankom 267 Ugovora o funkcioniranju Europske Unije, koji omogućava pristup nacionalnih sudova Europskom sudu. Svrha prethodnog postupka je osigurati jedinstvenu primjenu europskog prava u svim državama članicama. Bilo koji nacionalni sud može u toku bilo kojeg postupka obratiti se Europskom sudu, koji ima zadnju riječ u tumačenju pojma court of tribunal, odnosno, on odlučuje smatra li se sud koji je postavio prethodno pitanje sudom u smislu čl. 267. Cilj ovog rada je objasniti kakvu ulogu imaju nacionalni sudovi u prethodnom postupku, s obzirom da su oni pokretači samog postupka. Postupak se pokreće radi interpretacije Ugovora i valjanosti ili interpretacije akata donesenih od strane institucija i tijela Europske Unije. Nadalje, bitno je pojasniti u kojim situacijama nacionalni sudovi uživaju diskreciju, kad se radi obvezi o pokretanju prethodnog postupka, a u kojima su dužni to učiniti. U kratkim crtama analiziran je stadij u kojemu treba postaviti prethodno pitanje, te forma zahtjeva. Ukoliko nacionalni sudovi propuste postaviti prethodno pitanje, a imali su obvezu to učiniti, može doći do određenih posljedica, o čemu se biti gotova na kraju rada.The Preliminary ruling procedure institute is established by the Threaty, regulated by the article 267 of the Threaty of Functioning of the European Union, which allows access of nacional courts to the European court. The purpose of the Preliminary ruling procedure is to ensure uniformity in application of European Law in all Member States. Although any Nacional Court has jurisdiction to refer the matter during any proceedings, European Court has the final word in the defining the concept of a court of tribunal, he is deciding wheater the court is in the meaning od the article 267. The purpose of this paper is to analize the part of National Court in preliminary procedure considering that they are initiators of procedure itself. The preliminary procedure is initiated for the purposes of the interpretation of the Threaty and the validaty or interpretation of acts adopted by the institutions and bodies of the European Union. Furthermore, it is important to clarify in which situation the national court enjoys discretion, when they are obliged to refer the question, or in which they are bound to do so. It is analyzed in short lines in which stage and in which form preliminary question should be asked. If national court fail to refer the question, and they had an obligation to do so, there may be some consequences, which is to be completed in the end of this work