Decision of the European Ombudsman on complaint 624/2002/ME against the Court of Justice

Dear Mr S.,

On 6 April 2002, you made a complaint to the European Ombudsman concerning the language versions of judgements and opinions available on the Court of Justice's Website.

On 18 April 2002, I forwarded the complaint to the President of the Court of Justice. The Court sent its opinion on 10 July 2002. I forwarded it to you with an invitation to make observations, which you sent on 12 August 2002.

I am writing now to let you know the results of the inquiries that have been made.

THE COMPLAINT

The complainant lodged a complaint with the European Ombudsman in April 2002. The complainant put forward that on the Court of Justice's Website (http://www.curia.europa.eu), judgements are published in full in the languages available on the date of publication. When a proper translation is available on a later date, that version is not added to the Website. This is in particular a problem as regards judgements of the Court of First Instance and the opinions of the Advocates General. As far as the opinions of the Advocates General are concerned, they are only published in the language of the Advocate General and in French. Anyone not able to read French and the other language has to wait until the information is published in the printed document (Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance). The complainant stated that according to the Court's Information Department there are no plans to add more language versions to the Website.

In summary, the complainant alleged that despite the fact that the Court of Justice has several language versions of its judgements at its disposal, only the ones available on the date of publication are added to its Website. The complainant claimed that the Court should introduce a routine in which all language versions available to it are added to its Website.

THE INQUIRY

The Court of Justice's opinion

In its opinion, the Court of Justice referred to Article 31 of its Rules of Procedures, which states that the texts of judgements are authentic in the language of the case, which is also the version notified to the parties. It is also made available to the public once the judgement has been delivered. According to Article 68 of the Rules of Procedures, a report of cases shall be published before the Court. For that purpose, the Court translates the judgements into the other official languages of the Communities. The Court Reports contain the definitive version of the judgements in all languages and are the sole official source of information on the Court's case-law.

The Court then stressed that, in recent years, it had taken steps to facilitate the rapid access to its case-law. Since 1994, it made considerable efforts to ensure that all translations are available on the actual date of delivery of the judgement. It is not, however, possible to ensure that translations are available on that date in every case. This varies between languages according to each translation division's workload and staffing situation.

In addition, since 1997, the Court's judgements may also be consulted on its Website from the date of delivery. The texts and translations available are loaded onto the Website on that date. The system gives immediate access to 95% of all the language versions of the Court's judgements. As a result of lack of staff and the fact that the Website is still managed manually, it has until now been impossible to add at a later date translations that were not available on the date of delivery. However, an automatic loading process for those translations should be in operation by the end of the year.

The complainant's observations

In his observations, the complainant pointed out that the Court only referred to its judgements while his complaint specifically highlighted the problems of the availability of the judgements of the Court of First Instance and the opinions of the Advocates General. The complainant also questioned whether 95% of the judgements were in fact added to the Website. In a phone call with the Ombudsman's Secretariat, the complainant asked the Ombudsman to request official statistical information on the number of language versions available on the Court's Website. In his observations, the complainant also questioned whether it was "impossible" to add the other language versions to the Website for the reasons put forward by the Court.

THE DECISION

1 Language versions available on the Court's Website

1.1 The complainant stated that judgements are published in full in the languages available on the date of publication on the Website of the Court of Justice. Translations available on a later date are not added to the Website. This is in particular a problem as regards judgements of the Court of First Instance and the opinions of the Advocates General. The complainant alleged that despite the fact that the Court of Justice has several language versions of its judgements at its disposal, only the ones available on the date of publication are added to its Website. The complainant claimed that the Court should introduce a routine in which all language versions available to it are added to its Website.

1.2 The Court of Justice referred to its Rules of Procedures, according to which the texts of judgements are authentic in the language of the case and a report of cases shall be published. The Court Reports contain the definitive version of the judgements in all languages and are the sole official source of information on the Court's case-law. Since 1994, it made considerable efforts to ensure that all translations are available on the actual date of delivery of the judgement. Since 1997, the Court's judgements and the translations available on the date of delivery, may also be consulted on its Website. The system gives immediate access to 95% of all the language versions of the Court's judgements. As a result of lack of staff and the fact that the Website is still managed manually, it has been impossible to add at a later date translations that were not available on the date of delivery. However, an automatic loading process for those translations should be in operation by the end of the year.

1.3 The Ombudsman notes that Council Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the Communities(1), prescribes in Article 7 that "The languages to be used in the proceedings of the Court of Justice shall be laid down in its rules of procedure.". Article 68 of the Rules of Procedures of the Court of Justice states that "The Registrar shall arrange for the publication of reports of cases before the Court.". The Ombudsman has already held in previous cases that the provisions of Community law concerning use of languages do not appear to prevent a Community institution or body from publishing on a Website documents in the language in which they are drafted(2). It must thus be concluded that the Court has not breached any rule or principle binding upon it by not publishing, on its Website, its judgements in all official languages. The Ombudsman notes that the Court fulfils its legal obligations by publishing all the official language versions in the Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance.

1.4 Despite the fact that there is no legal obligation on the Court to publish judgements on its Website, the Ombudsman welcomes the fact that the Court already publishes judgements on its Website to the benefit of the European citizens. The Ombudsman furthermore welcomes the Court's intention to extend this practice to include more language versions by the end of the year. In doing so, the Ombudsman calls upon the Court to consider the suggestions raised by the complainant as far as the availability of the judgements of the Court of First Instance and the opinions of the Advocates General are concerned.

2 Conclusion

On the basis of the Ombudsman's inquiries into this complaint, there appears to have been no maladministration by the Court of Justice. The Ombudsman therefore closes the case.

The President of the Court of Justice will also be informed of this decision.

Yours sincerely,

 

Jacob SÖDERMAN

---

(1) Council Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community as amended, OJ 1958 L 17/385.

(2) See cases 281/99/VK, reported in the European Ombudsman Annual Report 1999, Section 3.1.5. Also available on the Website of the European Ombudsman: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu, and 939/99/ME, available on the Website of the European Ombudsman.