New Practice Directions at the Court of First Instance: Public Access to the Court's files ?

The Court of First Instance has issued two new local rules.

First is a new set of "Instructions to the Registrar". They concern the organization of the Court's Registry and how the docket is managed. Those "Instructions" replace those of March 3rd 1994, as amended on March 29th 2001 and June 5th 2002.

There is one very intriguing new provision in Article 5 § 7. That new provision seems to grant a very, very limited kind of public access to the Court's file: In principle, nobody can have access to the Court's file. But if the case is closed, the President of the Court may grant access and if the case is still pending, the President of the Chamber that is hearing the case may grant access. The new Instructions don't lay down to whom appeals should be lodged in case of a refusal to grant access nor on what grounds such access could be refused. Anyway, researchers and scholars may possibly gain access to the files for the first time. Who knows ? Also, will the Court of Justice follow suit and crack open the door ?

Second, the Court of First Instance has issued new "Practice Directions to the Parties". They mainly concern the presentation of pleadings and update the rules to take account of the expanding jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance. They replace the Practice Directions of March 14th 2002.