Judicial Review in the European Union

This chapter is concerned with the mechanisms available under the European Union Treaties for providing judicial review of acts adopted by the Union’s institutions and other bodies. It focuses particularly on acts of general application. Section II considers briefly the place of the action for annulment and the preliminary rulings procedure in the remedial framework of the Treaties. Section III reviews some of the extensive Anglo-American literature on the legitimacy of judicial review. Sections IV and V trace the evolution of the action for annulment before and after the Treaty of Lisbon. They concentrate on the standing requirements applicable to claims brought by natural and legal persons for the annulment of acts of general application and the Court’s growing emphasis on the remedies available in national courts. Section VI offers some reflections on the rationale for the Court’s current approach and the effectiveness of the Union’s contemporary system of remedies.