The New Urgent Preliminary Ruling Procedure (Procédure préliminaire d’urgence) in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

Analizira se novi hitni prethodni postupak (tzv. PPU – procédure préliminiaire d’urgence). Riječ je o novoj podvrsti prethodnog postupka koji se može provesti isključivo za slučajeve iz područja slobode, sigurnosti i pravde. PPU je u primjeni od 1. ožujka 2008. i već postoji stanovita sudska praksa Europskog suda. Postupak je uređen člankom 23.a Statuta i člankom 104.b Pravila postupka. Istražuju se razlozi za uvođ enje PPU, uspoređuje PPU s redovitim prethodnim postupkom i upozorava na najvažnije razlike između tih dvaju postupaka. Upozorava se i na probleme koje bi novi PPU mogao stvoriti u dosadašnjem funkcioniranju Suda te na moguća rješenja u smislu skraćivanja trajanja prethodnog postupka.The paper deals with the new urgent preliminary procedure (PPU – after French procédure préliminaire d’urgence). It is a new sub-type of preliminary ruling procedure applied only in the area of freedom, security, and justice. Although the PPU came into force on 1 March 2008, it has already become part of the case law of the European Court of Justice. The PPU is governed by Article 23a of the Statute and Article 104b of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice. The author discusses the reasons for introducing the PPU, compares it with the regular preliminary ruling procedure and stresses the most important differences between the two procedures. The paper is concluded with an analysis of potential problems in the enforcement of the PPU and with a suggestion for solving the problem of length of the preliminary ruling procedure