10.5 EUROPEAN MATERIALS

When dealing with European materials, it is important to distinguish between cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union (formerly the European Court of Justice) and the General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance), and those from the European Court (and Commission) of Human Rights. The former are the judicial machinery of the European Union. The latter come under the auspices of the Council of Europe – a different body with different membership and different institutional machinery. Different rules apply with respect to each.

10.5.1 General form for European Union cases

(a) Background

The European Court Reports (ECR) is the official report series for European Union cases. However, since 1 January 2012 the ECR are published only in digital format, available at <http://eur-lex.europa.eu> or <http://curia.europa.eu>. These are the only publications of the reports to have official status. This has led to a change in citation method for cases from 2012 onwards as the digital reports do not include volume numbers or page numbers. Rule 10.5.1(b) and (c) set out the different methods of citation for cases before and after 2012.

(b) General form for cases prior to 2012

The general form for citing cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the General Court (GCE), as well as their predecessor bodies the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (CFI) is as follows:

Element	Case number	Case name	Year	Report series	Page number
Rule	10.5.1(b)(i)			10.5.1(b)(ii)	10.5.1(b)(iii)
Example	Case C-34/89	Smith v EC Commission	[1993]	ECR	I-454

(i) Case number

Always insert the case number before the name of the case. Since 1989, these case names have been prefixed with either a “C” (decisions from the CJEU or ECJ) or a “T” (decisions from the GCE or CFI). Include this prefix in the citation of post-1989 cases.

Do not separate the case number and name with a comma.

(ii) Report series

The European Court Reports (ECR) is the official report series and should always be preferred.

If the ECR citation is not available, then either the Common Law Market Reports (CLMR) or an English report series can be used.

If the case is unreported, the notification in the Official Journal (OJ) may be used. This is searchable online at <www.eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm>. This website will also advise whether a case has been reported in the ECR.

(iii) Page number

Since 1989, the ECR has been split into two volumes. Where present, the volume number should attach to the page number and not the report series.

The ECR I contains CJEU and ECJ cases (“C” prefix) and the ECR II contains GCE and CFI cases (“T” prefix).

(iv) Court identifier

When citing to the ECR a court identifier is not required for cases from 1989 onwards because the court is clear from the volume and case number.

For cases prior to 1989 or where another report series is used, include one of the following court identifiers: CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union); ECJ (European Court of Justice); GCE (General Court); or CFI (Court of First Instance).

(c) General form for cases from 2012 onwards

Element	Case number	Case name	ECLI number	Pinpoint reference
Example	Case C-363/16	European Commission v Hellenic Republic	ECLI:EU:C:2018:12	at [34]–[35]
Rule	10.5.1(c)(i)		10.5.1(c)(ii)

(i) Case number

Give the case number in accordance with rule 10.5.1(b)(i).

(ii) ECLI number

In 2014, the European Union introduced the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) to make it easier to identify and locate cases. An ECLI has been retrospectively assigned to all European Union cases (back to 1954). However, these should only be used for European Union case citations for decisions from 2012 onwards; decisions prior to 2012 should be cited in accordance with rule 10.5.1(b).

The ECLI is a code for each judgment that identifies the originating jurisdiction, the court, the year of the judgment and its number. Each component is separated by a colon. For example, the ECLI of the judgment of the Court of Justice of 11 October 2016 in Case C-601/14 Commission v Italy is “ECLI:EU:C:2016:759”.

(iii) Court identifier

Since the ECLI identifies the court no additional court identifier is required.

Decisions delivered by the Court of Justice are indicated by the letter “C” and those of the General Court by the letter “T”.

10.5.2 European Union legislation

Element	Legislation type	Number and title	Publication details for the Official Journal of the European Communities
Example	Regulation	1605/2002 on the Financial Regulations	[2002] OJ L248/1
Rule	10.5.2(a)	10.5.2(b)	10.5.2(c)

(a) Legislation type

Indicate the legislation type, for example regulation or directive.

(b) Number and title

After the legislation type, include the number and title.

(c) Publication details

Following the number and title, include the publication details for the Official Journal of the European Union.

The OJ citation takes the form: [Year] OJ series number/page.

Prior to 1972, no English version of the Journal Officiel was produced. Cite pre-1972 material by reference to the Special Edition of the Official Journal, which was produced following the United Kingdom joining the EC.

10.5.3 General form for European Court of Human Rights cases

The general form for citing cases from the European Court of Human Rights is as follows:

Element	Case name	Year	Volume number	Report series	Page number	Court identifier	Pinpoint reference
Examples	Mauer v Austria	(1997)	25	EHRR	91	(ECHR)	at 92
	Svinarenko v Russia	[2014]	5	ECHR	181	(Grand Chamber)

(a) Report series

Cases are reported in the Reports of Judgments and Decisions (ECHR) and the European Human Rights Reporter (EHRR).

Before 1996 the official reports were known as Series A and numbered consecutively.

Where a case is not reported, give the court identifier, application number and the date of the judgment (these can be obtained from the Court’s official database, HUDOC, at <https://hudoc.echr.coe.int>).

(b) Court identifier

The court identifier for cases before November 1998 is “ECHR”.

After November 1998, the European Court of Human Rights was split into a Chamber (with five sections) and a Grand Chamber. If the case was heard before the Grand Chamber, the court identifier is “Grand Chamber, ECHR”. Otherwise, the court identifier is simply “ECHR”.

As the Reports of Judgments and Decisions (ECHR) only publish decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, cases prior to November 1998 will require no court identifier and cases after November 1998 will only require a court identifier to identify where a case is from the Grand Chamber. Similarly, with the Series A reports, no court identifier is needed.

10.5.4 General form for European Commission of Human Rights cases

Prior to 1998, all cases before the European Court of Human Rights were referred to it by the European Commission of Human Rights. While this body is no longer in existence, it is sometimes necessary to cite its past decisions.

The general form for citing cases from the European Commission on Human Rights is as follows:

Element	Case name	Year	Volume	Report series	Page number	Court identifier	Pinpoint reference
Examples	Morissens v Belgium	(1988)	56	DR	127
	Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v Greece	(1969)	12	Yearbook	186	(EComHR)	at [186]

(a) Background

The official report series of the European Commission of Human Rights was the Decisions and Reports of the Commission (DR) and, prior to this, the Yearbook of the ECHR. Some decisions also appear in the EHRR.

(b) Court identifier

A court identifier is not required when citing to the DR because it only reports decisions of the Commission.

However, when citing to the EHRR or Yearbook include a court identifier. The identifier is “EComHR.”