The Benelux Court of Justice ( nl, Benelux Gerechtshof, french: Cour de Justice Benelux) is a court which is common to the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

countries Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. The organisation was established by the treaty of 31 March 1965. The court's budget rests with the

Benelux Union The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

and is of 9 judges of the supreme courts as well as (since 2017) 6 judges of the courts of appeal of the three countries. The court is mainly tasked with answering requests for preliminary rulings from the supreme courts regarding regulations which are common to the three countries and serves as a civil service tribunal for personnel of the Benelux Economic Union and the Benelux Organization for Intellectual Property (BOIP), although it may also be tasked with advising the three governments, and with direct judicial tasks following the entry into force in 2016 of a 2012 protocol to the treaty.

Organization

Since December 2016, the activities are organized in three chambers: *The ''First Chamber'' is composed of 9 judges of the high courts of the three countries, and deals with preliminary questions of the high courts as well as appeals of decisions of the second chamber. The chamber also consists of at least 9 substitute judges. *The ''Second Chamber'' is composed of 6 judges of the Courts of Appeal of the three countries, and is to hear cases in first instance after specific treaties have attributed direct jurisdiction to the court. As no such protocol has entered into force, no court cases are handled by the Second Chamber. The chamber also consists of at least 6 substitute judges. *The ''Third Chamber'' is tasked with cases regarding personnel of the Benelux Union and the BOIP, and consists of judges from both the first and the second chamber. The court furthermore has three advocates general, that give advisory opinions in certain cases. The use of three chambers within an international court have been modelled on the organisation of the

Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (french: Cour de justice de l'Union européenne or "''CJUE''"; Latin: Curia) is the judicial branch of the European Union (EU). Seated in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembo ...

(where the First Chambre can be compared to the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Unio ...

, the Second Chambre to the General Court and the Third to the -former- Civil Service Tribunal).

Competence

The court has competence to answer questions regarding laws which are common to the three countries. The competence needs to be explicitly designated in a multilateral treaty, a decision or recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the

. The court has divided the opinions it has given in nine categories: *Penalty payments ( nl, dwangsom) *

Liability insurance Liability insurance (also called third-party insurance) is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser (the "insured") from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the i ...

for motorised vehicles *Movement of persons *Mutual assistance in tax matters *Hunting and

bird conservation Bird conservation is a field in the science of conservation biology related to threatened birds. Humans have had a profound effect on many bird species. Over one hundred species have gone extinct in historical times, although the most dramatic hu ...

*Equal fiscal treatment of companies *

Intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(Benelux

Trademarks A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from other ...

and

Industrial design right An industrial design right is an intellectual property right that protects the visual design of objects that are purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or c ...

s ( nl, tekeningen of modellen)

Decisions

As of 2014, the court has given 228 judgments: 173 preliminary rulings, 43 decisions as a civil service tribunal, 1 advisory opinion and 1 decision regarding the rules of the court.

Status in the European Union

The court is considered a "court common to several member states" of the European Union, and thus forms part of the European legal order. The court therefore can request a

preliminary ruling A preliminary ruling is a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the interpretation of European Union law that is given in response to a request (preliminary reference) from a court or a tribunal of a member state. A preliminary ruli ...

to the

for the application of

European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

, also when it needs such a ruling in order to answer requests for preliminary rulings itself, asked by supreme courts of Benelux countries. The European Court of Justice decided so in a 1995 case (C‑337/95, Parfums

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses ...

). In the latter case, the European Court of Justice ruled that in the interpretation of the Uniform Benelux Law on Trade Marks, both the

Supreme Court of the Netherlands The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ( nl, Hoge Raad der Nederlanden or simply ''Hoge Raad''), officially the High Council of the Netherlands, is the final court of appeal in civil, criminal and tax cases in the Netherlands, including Curaçao ...

and the Benelux Court of Justice (the authority to give preliminary rulings upon requests from the supreme courts regarding this Benelux law) were under an obligation to ask for a preliminary ruling in the interpretation of EU legislation. The Court for the first time requested a preliminary ruling in 2000 in the case '' Campina Melkunie v Benelux-Merkenbureau'' (C-265/00) regarding the rejection of the registration of the Benelux-trademark application by Campina of ''Biomild''. In this case the Supreme Court of the Netherlands had referred on 19 June 1998 nine questions to the Benelux Court of Justice, and in order to answer three of those, it made a request to the European Court of Justice. The 3 questions were answered by European Court of Justice on 12 February 2004, and the Benelux Court of Justice answered the 9 questions on 1 December 2004. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands in turn gave its ruling, based on those answers on 27 January 2006. The court upheld the rejection of the registration of the trade mark.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control International courts and tribunals Organisations based in Luxembourg City International supreme courts 1974 establishments in Europe Benelux