Preliminary Procedures at the General Court: More than Meets the Eye?

From 1 October 2024, the General Court will have jurisdiction to hear preliminary rulings in a number of specific areas of EU law. These include VAT, excise duties, customs and tariff classification, compensation and assistance to travellers, and greenhouse gas emissions trading. In this article, the author discusses and evaluates this reform of the preliminary ruling procedure. Among other things, the article discusses the extent to which the reform contributes to reducing the workload of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). It is further argued that the reform could potentially go beyond a merely practical, technical reallocation of preliminary ruling powers. Any future extension of the General Court’s preliminary ruling jurisdiction to other jurisdictions will potentially fundamentally change the judicial structure of the EU and put the CJEU even more on the track of a constitutional court.