European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union
To ensure that the law is enforced, understood and uniformly applied in all Member States, a judicial institution is essential.
That institution is the Court of Justice of the European Communities. It is composed of three courts: the Court of Justice (created in 1952), the Court of First Instance (created in 1988) and the Civil Service Tribunal (created in 2004).
The Court of Justice of the European Communities, together with the national courts, thus constitutes the European Communitys judiciary. The Courts main task is to interpret Community law uniformly and to rule on its validity. It answers questions referred to it by the national courts, which play a vital role, as they apply Community law at local level.
The judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities together with the treaties, regulations, directives and decisions make up Community law. Website: curia.europa.eu/en/
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’) and Article 4 of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (OJ 2011 L 337, p. 9).