APPLICATION OF THE EU LAW IN LATVIAN COURTS
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article outlines the main changes that the system of Latvian courts faced after Latvia’s accession to the EU. In the legislative field Latvia has added in its procedural laws general provisions that incorporate EU law into Latvia’s legal system, as well as the possibility of national courts to apply preliminary rulings procedure. During Latvia’s EU membership, Latvian courts have adapted to their role in the application of the EU law, especially in the area of administrative law. Latvian courts have referred to the Court of Justice of the EU for preliminary rulings in over 100 cases, mostly from administrative courts. This corresponds with general tendencies in other new EU Member States. However, the fact that there are very few requests for preliminary rulings from courts that are not the courts of the last instance in Latvia, suggests that Latvian courts of first instances are somewhat unwilling to make use of the preliminary rulings procedure and do not see the benefits in its use.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Archick, K. & Garding, S. 2021. European Union Enlargement. Congressional Research Service. Report for Congress (The Library of Congress). Available at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21344.pdf, (6. 11. 2021).
Bobek, M. 2008. Learning to Talk: Preliminary Rulings, the Courts of the New Member States and the Court of Justice. Common Market Law Review, 45, pp. 1611–1643.
Broberg, M. & Fenger, N. 2014. Preliminary References to the European Court of Justice. Oxford University Press.
Buka, A. & Bērziņa, L. 2016. Application of the EU Directives in the Latvian Courts: Tendencies and Challenges. In: Constitutional Values in Contemporary Legal Space II. Riga: University of Latvia Press, pp. 218–230.
De Witte, B., Mayoral, J.A., Jaremba, U., Wind, M. & Podstawa, K. (eds). 2016. National Courts and EU Law: New Issues, Theories and Methods. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Dyevre, A. 2009. European Integration and National Courts - A Strategic Analysis of Judicial Behaviour. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1486194. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1486194, (6. 11. 2021).
Kačevska, I., Rudevska, B., Buka, A., Dambergs, M. & Fillers, A. 2015. The Court of Justice of the European Union and the Impact of Its Case Law in the Area of Civil Justice on National Judicial and Administrative Authorities (Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Riga: Ministry of Justice. Available at https://www.tm.gov.lv/sites/tm/files/tm_petijums_anglu20valoda1_0.pdf, (7. 11. 2021).
Kerikmae, T. & Joamets, K. (eds.). 2017. The Law of the Baltic States. Springer Cham.
Miqsik, D. 2008. European Law and the General Courts of the Transition Countries. In: Europarecht und die Gerichte der Transformationsstaaten. Baden-Baden.
Prechal, S. 2006. National Courts in EU Judicial Structures. Yearbook of European Law, 25(1), pp. 429–450.
Prechal, S. & Widdershoven, T. 2008. The Dutch General Administrative Law Act: Europe-proof?. European Public Law, 14, pp. 81–98.
Schewe, C. J. 2016. On the Value of Commentaries on EU Law in the Central and East European Legal Space: A Review Article of Three German Standard Commentaries. Review of Central and East European Law, 41(2), pp. 195–209.
Starke, J. G. 1936. Monism and Dualism in the Theory of International Law. British Yearbook of International Law, 17, pp. 66–81.
Stein, E. 1981. Lawyers, Judges, and the Making of a Transnational Constitution. American Journal of International Law, 75(1), pp. 1–27.
Weiler, J. H. 1991. The Transformation of Europe. Yale Law Journal, 100(8), pp. 2403–2483.
Legal Sources and Case Law
Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. OJ, C 83, 30. 3. 2010.
Latvian Civil Procedure Law. Available at: https://likumi.lv/ta/en/en/id/50500, (6. 11. 2021).
Latvian Administrative Procedure Law. Available at: https://likumi.lv/ta/en/en/id/55567, (6. 11. 2021).
Latvian Criminal Procedure Law. Available at: https://likumi.lv/ta/id/107820-kriminalprocesa-likums, (6. 11. 2021).
Court of Justice of the European Union
C-26/62 NV Algemene Transport - en Expeditie Onderneming van Gend & Loos v. Netherlands Inland Revenue Administration. Judgment of the Court of 5 February 1963. ECLI:EU:C:1963:1.
C-43/95 Data Delecta Aktiebolag and Ronny Forsberg v MSL Dynamics Ltd. Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 26 September 1996. ECLI:EU:C:1996:357.
C-122/96 Saldanha and MTS Securities Corporation. Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 2 October 1997. ECLI:EU:C:1997:458.
C-302/04 Ynos kft v János Varga. Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 10 January 2006. ECLI:EU:C:2006:9.
C-561/19 Consorzio Italian Management and Catania Multiservizi SpA v Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA. Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 6 October 2021. ECLI:EU:C:2021:799.
C-6/64 Costa v ENEL. Judgment of the Court of 15 July 1964. ECLI:EU:C:1964:66.
C-106/77 Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v Simmenthal SpA (Simmenthal 2). Judgment of the Court of 9 March 1978. ECLI:EU:C:1978:49.
Joined cases C-188/10 Aziz Melki and C-189/10 Sélim Abdeli. Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 22 June 2010. ECLI:EU:C:2010:363.
C-399/11 Stefano Melloni v Ministerio Fiscal. Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 26 February 2013. ECLI:EU:C:2013:107.
C-14/83 Sabine von Colson and Elisabeth Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen. Judgment of the Court of 10 April 1984. ECLI:EU:C:1984:153.
C-106/89 Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA. Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 13 November 1990. ECLI:EU:C:1990:395.
Joined cases C-397/01 to C-403/01 Bernhard Pfeiffer (C-397/01), Wilhelm Roith (C-398/01), Albert Süß (C-399/01), Michael Winter (C-400/01), Klaus Nestvogel (C-401/01), Roswitha Zeller (C-402/01) and Matthias Döbele (C-403/01) v Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Waldshut eV. Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 5 October 2004. ECLI:EU:C:2004:584.
C-283/81 Srl CILFIT and Lanificio di Gavardo SpA v Ministry of Health. Judgment of the Court of 6 October 1982. ECLI:EU:C:1982:335.
Latvian Courts
Judgment of the Civil Department of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia of 28 November 2012 in case SKC-392/2012.
Judgment of the Administrative Department of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia March 24, 2010 in the case SKA-293/2010.
Judgment of the Criminal Department of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia of 9 May 2013 in case SKK-165/2013.
Reports
Report of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia on the participation of the Republic of Latvia in Cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union. 2019. Available at: https://www.tm.gov.lv/lv/jaunumi-est, (6. 11. 2021).