Court Decision Regarding the Right to Annul Acts of Community Institutions

According to the Court’s decision in Case 314/85, “National courts whose decisions are subject to appeal under domestic law may examine the validity of a Community act and, if they consider unfounded the grounds for invalidity put forward before them by the parties, they may reject those grounds, concluding that the act is fully valid. On the other hand, national courts, whether or not their decisions are subject to appeal under domestic law, do not have the jurisdiction to declare acts of Community institutions invalid themselves.”
This solution is required, firstly, by the need for uniform application of Community law. Differences between the courts of the Member States as to the validity of Community acts would be capable of jeopardizing the very unity of the Community legal order and of undermining the fundamental principle of legal certainty.
Secondly, it is required by the necessary coherence of the system of judicial protection established by the Treaty.” Consequently, only the Court has exclusive jurisdiction to declare an act of a Community institution invalid, as well as to recognize the invalidity of acts in cases where it is raised as an issue before a national court, within the framework of system coherence.
Finally, it is stated that “This distribution of powers may, under certain conditions, be subject to exceptions in cases where an issue of validity of an act is raised before the national court in the context of interim measures proceedings”.