The Court of Justice of the European Union issued today a press
release with statistics concerning judicial activity in 2009. The press
release is available here.
The ECJ completed 543 cases in 2009, one of the highest numbers in the
Court’s history. With respect to the duration of proceedings, in the
case of references for a preliminary ruling, the average duration
amounted to 17.1 months; the average time taken to deal with direct
actions and appeals was 17.1 months and 15.4 months respectively.
568 cases were brought before the General Court (which was called
until November 30, 2009, the Court of First Instance). The results are
mixed as far as the duration of proceedings is concerned. In the case
of appeals, the duration remained at the level recorded in 2008 (16.1
months). Furthermore, the duration of intellectual property proceedings
decreased (from 20.4 months in 2008 to 20.1 months in 2009). However,
the duration increased in cases concerning other areas (from 26 months
in 2008 to 33.1 months in 2009).