Court of First Instance of the European Communities

PURPOSE: amendment of Decision 88/591/ECSC,EEC, Euratom with a view to enlarging the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance. CONTENT: The draft decision seeks to enlarge the competences of the Court of First Instance by conferring on it, in particular, jurisdiction to hear and determine, within certain defined fields, actions for annulment brought by Member States. The fields of Community law which have been selected for the transfer of jurisdiction are the following: common transport policy, competition rules applicable to undertakings, state aid, trade protection measures, and, lastly, the field relating to the funds, financial instruments and action programme which provide for the grant of Community financial support. The proposed transfer of jurisdiction is not designed to reduce the workload of the Court of Justice but to ensure a better administration of justice, in particular by limiting to the greatest possible extent the situations in which actions in which the same relief is sought must be brought simultaneously before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance.�