Procedure before the General Court

1. Actions may be brought before the Court of Justice against decisions of the Boards of Appeal on appeals.
2. The action may be brought on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of the Treaty, of this Regulation or of any rule of law relating to their application or misuse of power.
3. The Court of Justice has jurisdiction to annul or to alter the contested decision.
4. The action shall be open to any party to proceedings before the Board of Appeal adversely affected by its decision.
5. The action shall be brought before the Court of Justice within two months of the date of notification of the decision of the Board of Appeal.
6. The Office shall be required to take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice.

The right to a fair trial is a fundamental principle of EU law, laid down in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
In order to satisfy the requirements of that law, the European Union judicature must ensure that the principle that the parties should be heard is respected in proceedings before them and that they themselves respect that principle, which applies to any procedure which may result in a decision by an institution of the European Union perceptibly affecting a person’s interests.

Article 36 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Judgments shall state the reasons on which they are based. They shall contain the names of the Judges who took part in the deliberations.

2. The language of the case shall be chosen by the applicant, except that:

(...)

1. The original of every pleading must be signed by the party’s agent or lawyer.
The original, accompanied by all annexes referred to therein, shall be lodged together with five copies for the General Court and a copy for every other party to the proceedings. Copies shall be certified by the party lodging them.
(...)
3. All pleadings shall bear a date. In the reckoning of time-limits for taking steps in proceedings only the date of lodgment at the Registry shall be taken into account.

1. The original paper version of a procedural document must bear the handwritten signature of the party's agent or lawyer.
2. The original, accompanied by all annexes referred to therein, shall be submitted together with three copies for the General Court and a copy for every other party to the proceedings. Copies shall be certified by the party lodging them.
3. By way of derogation from the second sentence of Article 72(2), the date on and time at which a full copy of the signed original of a procedural document, including the schedule of items referred to in Article 72(3), is received at the Registry by telefax shall be deemed to be the date and time of lodgement for the purposes of compliance with the procedural time limits, provided that the signed original of the procedural document, accompanied by the annexes and copies referred to in paragraph 2, is lodged at the Registry no later than 10 days thereafter. Article 60 shall not apply to that time limit of 10 days.

The General Court may at any time, of its own motion, after hearing the parties, decide whether there exists any absolute bar to proceeding with an action or declare that the action has become devoid of purpose and that there is no need to adjudicate on it; it shall give its decision in accordance with Article 114(3) and (4).

1. If a defendant on whom an application initiating proceedings has been duly served fails to lodge a defence to the application in the proper form within the time prescribed, the applicant may apply to the General Court for judgment by default.
The application shall be served on the defendant. The General Court may decide to open the oral procedure on the application.
2. Before giving judgment by default the General Court shall consider whether the application initiating proceedings is admissible, whether the appropriate formalities have been complied with, and whether the application appears well founded. It may order a preparatory inquiry.

1. The Office and the parties to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal other than the applicant shall lodge their responses to the application within a period of two months from the service of the application.
Article 46 shall apply to the responses.
2. The application and the responses may be supplemented by replies and rejoinders by the parties, including the interveners referred to in Article 134(1), where the President, on a reasoned application made within two weeks of service of the responses or replies, considers such further pleading necessary and allows it in order to enable the party concerned to put forward its point of view.
The President shall prescribe the period within which such pleadings are to be submitted.
3. Without prejudice to the foregoing, in the cases referred to in Article 134(3), the other parties may, within a period of two months of service upon them of the response, submit a pleading confined to responding to the form of order sought and the pleas in law submitted for the first time in the response of an intervener. That period may be extended by the President on a reasoned application from the party concerned.
4. The parties’ pleadings may not change the subject-matter of the proceedings before the Board of Appeal.

1. The parties referred to in Article 172 of these Rules may submit a cross-appeal within the same time-limit as that prescribed for the submission of a response.
2. A cross-appeal must be introduced by a document separate from the response.

The Member States and the institutions of the Union shall be represented before the Court of Justice by an agent appointed for each case; the agent may be assisted by an adviser or by a lawyer.
The States, other than the Member States, which are parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and also the EFTA Surveillance Authority referred to in that Agreement shall be represented in same manner.
Other parties must be represented by a lawyer.
Only a lawyer authorised to practise before a court of a Member State or of another State which is a party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area may represent or assist a party before the Court.

Periods of grace based on considerations of distance shall be determined by the Rules of Procedure.
No right shall be prejudiced in consequence of the expiry of a time-limit if the party concerned proves the existence of unforeseeable circumstances or of force majeure.

An appeal shall be allowed to proceed, wholly or in part, in accordance with the
detailed rules set out in the Rules of Procedure, where it raises an issue that is
significant with respect to the unity, consistency or development of Union law