1.   Every Member of the General Court shall, as a rule, perform the duties of a Judge.

2.   Members of the General Court are hereinafter referred to as ‘Judges’.

3.   Every Judge, with the exception of the President, the Vice-President and the Presidents of Chambers of the General Court, may, in the circumstances defined in Articles 30 and 31, perform the duties of an Advocate General in a particular case.

4.   References to the Advocate General in these Rules shall apply only where a Judge has been designated as Advocate General.

‘I swear that I will perform my duties impartially and conscientiously; I swear that I will preserve the secrecy of the deliberations of the Court.’

1.   Where the Court of Justice is called upon, pursuant to Article 6 of the Statute, to decide, after consulting the General Court, whether a Judge of the General Court no longer fulfils the requisite conditions or no longer meets the obligations arising from his office, the President of the General Court shall invite the Judge concerned to make representations to the General Court, in the absence of the Registrar.

2.   The General Court shall state the reasons for its opinion.

3.   An opinion to the effect that a Judge of the General Court no longer fulfils the requisite conditions or no longer meets the obligations arising from his office must receive the votes of a majority of the Judges composing the General Court according to Article 48 of the Statute. In that event, particulars of the voting shall be communicated to the Court of Justice.

4.   Voting shall be by secret ballot in the absence of the Registrar; the Judge concerned shall not take part in the deliberations.

1.   The seniority of Judges shall be calculated according to the date on which they took up their duties.

2.   Where there is equal seniority on that basis, the order shall be determined by age.

3.   Judges whose terms of office are renewed shall retain their former seniority.

1.   The Judges shall, immediately after the partial replacement provided for in the second paragraph of Article 254 TFEU, elect one of their number as President of the General Court for a term of three years.

2.   If the office of President of the General Court falls vacant before the normal date of expiry of the term thereof, the General Court shall elect a successor for the remainder of the term.

3.   The elections provided for in this Article shall be by secret ballot. The Judge obtaining the votes of more than half the Judges composing the General Court according to Article 48 of the Statute shall be elected. If no Judge obtains that majority, further ballots shall be held until that majority is attained.

4.   The Judges shall then elect one of their number as Vice-President of the General Court for a term of three years, in accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraph 3. Paragraph 2 shall apply if the office of the Vice-President of the General Court falls vacant before the normal date of expiry of the term thereof.

5.   The names of the President and Vice-President of the General Court elected in accordance with this Article shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   The President of the General Court shall represent the General Court.

2.   The President of the General Court shall direct the judicial business and the administration of the General Court.

3.   The President of the General Court shall preside at the plenum referred to in Article 42.

4.   The President of the General Court shall preside over the Grand Chamber. In that case Article 19 shall apply.

5.   If the President of the General Court is attached to a Chamber, he shall preside over that Chamber. In that case Article 19 shall apply.

6.   In cases not yet assigned to a formation of the Court, the President of the General Court may adopt the measures of organisation of procedure provided for in Article 89.

1.   The Vice-President of the General Court shall assist the President of the General Court in the performance of his duties and shall take the President's place when the latter is prevented from acting.

2.   He shall take the President's place, at the latter's request, in performing the duties referred to in Article 10(1) and (2).

3.   The General Court shall, by decision, specify the conditions under which the Vice-President of the General Court shall take the place of the President of the General Court in the performance of his judicial duties. That decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

4.   Subject to Article 10(5), if the Vice-President of the General Court is attached to a Chamber, he shall preside over that Chamber. In that case Article 19 shall apply.

1.   The General Court shall lay down criteria by which cases are to be allocated among the Chambers. The General Court may make one or more Chambers responsible for hearing and determining cases in specific matters.

2.   The decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   As soon as possible after the document initiating proceedings has been lodged, the President of the General Court shall assign the case to a Chamber according to the criteria laid down by the General Court in accordance with Article 25.

2.   The President of the Chamber shall propose to the President of the General Court, in respect of each case assigned to the Chamber, the designation of a Judge to act as Rapporteur. The President of the General Court shall decide on the proposal.

3.   If in any Chamber sitting with three or with five Judges the number of Judges assigned to that Chamber is higher than three or five respectively, the President of the Chamber shall decide which of the Judges will be called upon to take part in the judgment of the case.

1.   If the Judge-Rapporteur is prevented from acting, the President of the competent formation of the Court shall notify the President of the General Court, who shall designate a new Judge-Rapporteur. If the new Judge-Rapporteur is not attached to the Chamber to which the case was first assigned, the case shall be heard and determined by the Chamber in which the new Judge-Rapporteur sits.

2.   In order to take account of a connection between cases on the basis of their subject-matter, the President of the General Court may, by reasoned decision and after consulting the Judge-Rapporteurs concerned, reassign the cases to enable the same Judge-Rapporteur to conduct preparatory inquiries in all the cases concerned. If the Judge-Rapporteur to whom the cases have been reassigned does not belong to the Chamber to which the cases were first assigned, the cases shall be heard and determined by the Chamber in which the new Judge-Rapporteur sits.

3.   In the interests of the proper administration of justice, and by way of exception, the President of the General Court may, before the presentation of the preliminary report referred to in Article 87, by reasoned decision and after consulting the Judges concerned, designate another Judge-Rapporteur. If that Judge-Rapporteur is not attached to the Chamber to which the case was first assigned, the case shall be heard and determined by the Chamber in which the new Judge-Rapporteur sits.

4.   Before designating the Judge-Rapporteur as provided in paragraphs 1 to 3, the President of the General Court shall seek the views of the Presidents of the Chambers concerned.

5.   Where the composition of the Chambers has changed as a result of a decision of the General Court on the assignment of Judges to Chambers, a case shall be heard and determined by the Chamber in which the Judge-Rapporteur sits following that decision, unless the deliberations have commenced or the oral part of the procedure has been opened.

1.   Whenever the legal difficulty or the importance of the case or special circumstances so justify, a case may be referred to the Grand Chamber or to a Chamber sitting with a different number of Judges.

2.   The Chamber seised of the case or the President of the General Court may, at any stage in the proceedings, either of its or his own motion or at the request of a main party, propose to the plenum that the case be referred as provided for in paragraph 1.

3.   The decision to refer a case to a formation sitting with a greater number of Judges shall be taken by the plenum.

4.   The decision to refer a case to a formation sitting with a lesser number of Judges shall be taken by the plenum, after the main parties have been heard.

5.   The case shall be heard and determined by a Chamber sitting with at least five Judges where a Member State or an institution of the Union which is a party to the proceedings so requests.

1.   The following cases assigned to a Chamber sitting with three Judges may be heard and determined by the Judge-Rapporteur sitting as a single Judge where, having regard to the lack of difficulty of the questions of law or fact raised, to the limited importance of those cases and to the absence of other special circumstances, they are suitable for being so heard and determined and have been delegated under the conditions laid down in this Article:

2.   Delegation to the single Judge shall not be possible:

3.   The decision relating to the delegation of a case to the single Judge shall be taken, after the main parties have been heard, by the Chamber sitting with three Judges before which the case is pending. Where a Member State or an institution of the Union which is a party to the proceedings objects to the case being heard and determined by the single Judge the case shall be maintained before the Chamber to which the Judge-Rapporteur belongs.

4.   The single Judge shall refer the case back to the Chamber if he finds that the conditions justifying its delegation are no longer satisfied.

1.   The decision to designate an Advocate General in a particular case shall be taken by the plenum at the request of the Chamber to which the case has been assigned or referred.

2.   The President of the General Court shall designate the Judge called upon to perform the function of Advocate General in that case.

3.   After being so designated, the Advocate General shall be heard before the decisions provided for in Articles 16, 28, 45, 68, 70, 83, 87, 90, 92, 98, 103, 105, 106, 113, 126 to 132, 144, 151, 165, 168, 169 and 207 to 209 are taken.

1.   The judicial year shall begin on 1 September of each calendar year and end on 31 August of the following year.

2.   The judicial vacations shall be determined by the General Court.

3.   In a case of urgency, the President of the General Court and the Presidents of Chambers may convene the Judges and, if necessary, the Advocate General during the judicial vacations.

4.   The General Court shall observe the official holidays of the place where it has its seat.

5.   The General Court may, in proper circumstances, grant leave of absence to any Judge.

6.   The dates of the judicial vacations shall be published annually in the Official Journal of the European Union.

1.   Decisions concerning administrative issues and the decisions referred to in Articles 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 25, 28, 31 to 33, 41, 74 and 224 shall be taken by the General Court at the plenum in which all the Judges shall take part and have a vote, save as otherwise provided in these Rules. The Registrar shall be present, unless the General Court decides to the contrary.

2.   If, after the plenum has been convened, it is found that the quorum referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 17 of the Statute has not been attained, the President of the General Court shall adjourn the sitting until there is a quorum.

1.   Where the General Court sits in the presence of the Registrar, the Registrar shall, if necessary, draw up minutes which shall be signed by the President of the General Court or by the President of the Chamber, as the case may be, and by the Registrar.

2.   Where the General Court sits without the Registrar being present it shall, if necessary, instruct the most junior Judge for the purposes of Article 8 to draw up minutes which shall be signed by the President of the General Court or by the President of the Chamber, as the case may be, and by that Judge.

1.   A procedural document shall be lodged at the Registry either in paper form, where appropriate after transmission of a copy of the original of that document by telefax in accordance with Article 73(3), or by the method referred to in the decision of the General Court adopted pursuant to Article 74.

2.   All procedural documents shall bear a date. In the calculation of procedural time limits, only the date and time in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg of lodgement at the Registry shall be taken into account.

3.   To every procedural document there shall be annexed the material relied on in support of it, together with a schedule listing each item.

4.   Where, in view of the length of the material, only extracts from it are annexed to the procedural document, the whole item or a full copy of it shall be lodged at the Registry.

5.   The institutions shall produce, within time limits laid down by the President, translations of any procedural document into the other languages provided for by Article 1 of Council Regulation No 1.

1.   The original paper version of a procedural document must bear the handwritten signature of the party's agent or lawyer.

2.   The original, accompanied by all annexes referred to therein, shall be submitted together with three copies for the General Court and a copy for every other party to the proceedings. Copies shall be certified by the party lodging them.

3.   By way of derogation from the second sentence of Article 72(2), the date on and time at which a full copy of the signed original of a procedural document, including the schedule of items referred to in Article 72(3), is received at the Registry by telefax shall be deemed to be the date and time of lodgement for the purposes of compliance with the procedural time limits, provided that the signed original of the procedural document, accompanied by the annexes and copies referred to in paragraph 2, is lodged at the Registry no later than 10 days thereafter. Article 60 shall not apply to that time limit of 10 days.

1.   The General Court shall set, in accordance with Article 224, the maximum length of written pleadings lodged pursuant to this Title.

2.   Authorisation to exceed the maximum length of written pleadings may be given by the President only in cases involving particularly complex legal or factual issues.

1.   For the purposes of the proceedings, the application shall state whether the method of service to which the applicant's representative agrees is that referred to in Article 57(4) or telefax.

2.   If the application does not comply with the requirements referred to in paragraph 1, all service on the party concerned for the purposes of the proceedings shall be effected, for so long as the defect has not been cured, by registered letter addressed to the representative of that party. Service shall then be deemed to be duly effected by the lodging of the registered letter at the post office of the place in which the General Court has its seat.

1.   The application shall be accompanied, where appropriate, by the documents specified in the second paragraph of Article 21 of the Statute.

2.   An application submitted under Article 272 TFEU pursuant to an arbitration clause in a contract governed by public or private law, entered into by the Union or on its behalf, shall be accompanied by a copy of the contract which contains that clause.

3.   An application made by a legal person governed by private law shall be accompanied by recent proof of that person's existence in law (extract from the register of companies, firms or associations or any other official document).

4.   The application shall be accompanied by the documents referred to in Article 51(2) and (3).

5.   If the application does not comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 to 4, the Registrar shall prescribe a reasonable time limit within which the applicant is to produce the abovementioned documents. If the applicant fails to put the application in order within the time limit prescribed, the General Court shall decide whether the non-compliance with these conditions renders the application formally inadmissible.

1.   The application shall be served on the defendant in the form of a certified copy sent by registered post with a form for acknowledgement of receipt or by personal delivery of the copy against a receipt. Where the defendant has previously agreed to applications being served on him by the method referred to in Article 57(4) or by telefax, service of the application may be effected accordingly.

2.   In cases where Article 78(5) applies, service shall be effected as soon as the application has been put in order or the General Court has declared it admissible notwithstanding the failure to observe the requirements set out in that Article.

1.   Within two months after service on him of the application, the defendant shall lodge a defence, containing:

2.   Article 77 and Article 78(3) to (5) shall apply to the defence.

3.   The time limit laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article may, in exceptional circumstances, be extended by the President at the reasoned request of the defendant.

1.   The application initiating proceedings and the defence may be supplemented by a reply from the applicant and by a rejoinder from the defendant unless the General Court decides that a second exchange of pleadings is unnecessary because the contents of the file in the case are sufficiently comprehensive.

2.   Where the General Court decides that a second exchange of pleadings is unnecessary it may authorise the main parties to supplement the file in the case if the applicant presents a reasoned request to that effect within two weeks from the service of that decision.

3.   The President shall prescribe the time limits within which those procedural documents are to be produced. He may specify the matters to which the reply or the rejoinder should relate.

1.   No new plea in law may be introduced in the course of proceedings unless it is based on matters of law or of fact which come to light in the course of the procedure.

2.   Any new pleas in law shall be introduced in the second exchange of pleadings and identified as such. Where the matters of law or of fact justifying the introduction of new pleas in law are known after the second exchange of pleadings or after it has been decided not to authorise a second exchange of pleadings, the main party concerned shall introduce the new pleas in law as soon as those matters come to his knowledge.

3.   Without prejudice to the decision to be taken by the General Court on the admissibility of the new pleas in law, the President shall give the other parties an opportunity to respond to those pleas.

1.   Evidence produced or offered shall be submitted in the first exchange of pleadings.

2.   In reply or rejoinder a main party may produce or offer further evidence in support of his arguments, provided that the delay in the submission of such evidence is justified.

3.   The main parties may, exceptionally, produce or offer further evidence before the oral part of the procedure is closed or before the decision of the General Court to rule without an oral part of the procedure, provided that the delay in the submission of such evidence is justified.

4.   Without prejudice to the decision to be taken by the General Court on the admissibility of the evidence produced or offered pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3, the President shall give the other parties an opportunity to comment on such evidence.

1.   Where a measure the annulment of which is sought is replaced or amended by another measure with the same subject-matter, the applicant may, before the oral part of the procedure is closed, or before the decision of the General Court to rule without an oral part of the procedure, modify the application to take account of that new factor.

2.   The modification of the application must be made by a separate document within the time limit laid down in the sixth paragraph of Article 263 TFEU within which the annulment of the measure justifying the modification of the application may be sought.

3.   The statement of modification shall contain:

4.   The statement of modification must be accompanied by the measure justifying the modification of the application. If that measure is not produced, the Registrar shall prescribe a reasonable time limit within which the applicant is to produce it. If the applicant fails to produce the measure within the time limit prescribed, the General Court shall decide whether the non-compliance with that requirement renders the statement modifying the application inadmissible.

5.   Without prejudice to the decision to be taken by the General Court on the admissibility of the statement modifying the application, the President shall prescribe a time limit within which the defendant may respond to the statement of modification.

6.   The President shall, where appropriate, prescribe a time limit within which any interveners may supplement their statements in intervention in the light of the statement modifying the application and the statement in response. Those statements shall be served simultaneously on the interveners for that purpose.

1.   When the written part of the procedure is closed, the President shall fix a date on which the Judge-Rapporteur is to present a preliminary report to the General Court.

2.   The preliminary report shall contain an analysis of the relevant issues of fact and of law raised by the action, proposals as to whether measures of organisation of procedure or measures of inquiry should be undertaken, whether there should be an oral part of the procedure and whether the case should be referred to the Grand Chamber or to a Chamber sitting with a different number of Judges, and whether the case should be delegated to a single Judge.

3.   The General Court shall decide what action to take on the proposals of the Judge-Rapporteur and, where appropriate, whether to open the oral part of the procedure.

1.   Measures of organisation of procedure and measures of inquiry may be taken or modified at any stage of the proceedings either of the General Court's own motion or on the application of a main party.

2.   The application referred to in paragraph 1 must state precisely the purpose of the measures sought and the reasons for them. Where the application is made after the first exchange of pleadings, the party submitting that application must state the reasons for which he was unable to submit it earlier.

3.   Where an application for measures of organisation of procedure or for measures of inquiry is made, the President shall give the other parties an opportunity to comment on that application.