A court or tribunal within the meaning of Article 234 of the Treaty: the Court's jurisprudence from Vaassen (née Göbbels) to Syfait

The thesis you are about to read concerns the expression ''court or tribunal of a Member State'' contained within Article 234 of the Treaty. While the Article is silent as to what is to define such a body, the European Court of Justice has ruled that it is for the Court to rule upon which bodies constitute a court or tribunal for the purposes of making a preliminary ruling reference. Hence, the Court has, since the early days of the Community, established and refined certain criteria it can take into account when making such a judgement. As in all aspects of law, the ECJ's jurisprudence on the matter is not without its fair share of controversy. There are many, and I am one of them, that have accused the Court of being lax regarding a strict interpretation of the criteria it some decades ago held so dear. Moreover, the Court's liberal attitude comes to blaring light in the Opinion of Advocate General Jacobs in Case C-53/03 Syfait, in which he opted to allow a reference from a national competition authority with certain judicial characteristics. While an Opinion of an Advocate General is not binding upon the ECJ, the potential implications of Syfait, following a positive ruling by the Court, are important to consider