Court of Justice of the European Union to rule on lex mitior case in Grand panel
By ruling on the 16th of August 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic (Grand panel) suspended the proceedings and referred questions to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, both its scope and the substantive interpretation of the scope and application of the principle of lex mitior contained therein. In the case brought before the CJEU by the Grand panel of the Supreme Administrative Court, the question is whether the Panel of the Court of Cassation is obliged to take into account a change in the law in favour of the offender which occurred during the cassation proceedings and after the decision of the lower administrative court.
By decision on the 4th of June 2024, the case was referred to the Grand Chamber of the CJEU for hearing and decision under Case No. C-544/23. A Cypriot Judge, Constantinos Lycourgos, was designated as Judge-rapporteur, and a French Advocate General, Jean Richard de la Tour, was designated as Advocate General. The President of the Grand Chamber of the CJEU is the President of the CJEU, Judge Koen Lenaerts of Belgium. A hearing in the case has been set for the 24th of September 2024 in Luxembourg. The Slovak and Italian governments, the European Commission and the defendant (the National Labour Inspectorate) took the opportunity to submit written observations. The hearing will be followed by a presentation of the Advocate General’s submissions, after which the Grand Chamber will meet in private and the judgment will be delivered at a later date.
TheCJEU sits in a Grand Chamber of fifteen judges when it rules on cases of particular complexity and importance. The Grand Chamber is thus the most important formation of the CJEU. The Advocates-General take part in the work of the CJEU by delivering, in a completely impartial and independent manner, a legal opinion, known as a ‘preliminary ruling’, in the cases which are referred to them.
The CJEU has ruled in the Grand Chamber on cases brought before it by Slovak courts only three times so far (Cases No. C-240/09; C-416/10 – the well-known case concerning the so-called Pezinok landfill; and C-243/15 Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK II (Forest-protecting organization WOLF II)). All these cases were brought by the former Administrative Chamber the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic. Two cases brought by the Supreme Administrative Court are currently pending before the Grand Chamber of the CJEU. In addition to the present case, Case No. C-185/23 concerning the withdrawal of security clearance, in which a hearing was held on the 30 of January 2024 and the Advocate General made his submissions on the 16 of May 2024. Judgment will be delivered in this case on the 29 of July 2024.
The Grand panel of the Supreme Administrative Court, composed of: the President of the Panel Marián Trenčan, and Judges Elena Berthotyová, Marián Fečík, Anita Filová (Judge-rapporteur), Peter Potásch, Petra Príbelská and Juraj Vališ, are sitting in Case No. 2 Asan 1/2020, 1 SVs 2/2022.
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