The CILFIT Criteria Clarified and Extended for National Courts of Last Resort Under Art. 267 TFEU

• Imelda Maher ^[1]
  1. [1] UCD Sutherland School of Law
• Localización: European papers: a journal on law and integration, ISSN-e 2499-8249, Vol. 7, Nº. 1, 2022, págs. 265-274
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • A significant judgment of the Grand Chamber of the CJEU was handed down in case C-561/19 Consorzio Italian Management e Catania Multiservizi and Catania Multiservizi ECLI:EU:C:2021:799 (CIM) in October 2021 on the scope of discretion of national courts of last resort when deciding to make a preliminary reference under art. 267 TFEU. Despite the invitation of the Advocate General, the Court shored up the (almost) 40-year-old CILFIT (case 283/81 CILFIT v Ministero della Sanità ECLI:EU:C:1982:335) test, giving clarification as to the aims of art. 267 TFEU and setting down an obligation to give reasons when not referring as a means of containing national court discretion by increasing transparency. The Court, by retaining the CILFIT test while tweaking it and adding a requirement to give reasons for refusal to refer, chose partnership and judicial cooperation with national apex courts while increasing transparency for decision-making thereby favouring the existing vision of the relationship with courts of last resort as one of direct cooperation.