Bar Association admitted to the EU Court

The bar association that pursues the objective of preserving and promoting the professional and economic interests of lawyers has the right to intervene in proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union if questions of principle are raised that may affect the general interests of the bar association. And this even when the resolution of the dispute is not capable of affecting or changing the legal position of the professional association as such. This was established by the President of the EU Court of Justice in an order filed on 1 August (C-865/24).

At the centre of the measure was the request for intervention in the proceedings before the Court of Justice in which some professional Bar Associations were opposing the EU Council. The former had requestedthe annulment of the judgment of the EU General Court of 2 October 2024 (T-797/22), which had rejected an application to annul certain provisions of the EU regulation on restrictive measures imposed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in violation, according to the applicants, of the right "to be advised by a lawyer" inherent in Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The German Bar Association had applied to intervene alongside the plaintiffs' Bar Associations, including the Belgian and French Bar Associations.

In the ruling of 1 August, the request was granted, with a clarification on the conditions necessary to be able to submit an application to intervene by a subject such as the professional association. The Statute of the Court, in fact, admits the intervention of other entities in the course of proceedings only if the persons concerned are directly affected by the act of the proceedings.

It is true that, in principle, proof of the interest in the resolution of the proceedings derives from the assessment of the possibilities of changing the legal position of those who apply to intervene, but in the case of a representative professional association 'whose purpose is to protect the interests of its members' the application to intervene must be granted even without demonstrating that the resolution of the proceedings would be capable of 'changing the position of the association as such'.

A conclusion that is to the advantage of the professional association of lawyers that had submitted the application, widening its scope for intervention, but - the president writes - also of the Court itself because requests for intervention by each individual member are thus avoided. Unlike applications submitted by natural and legal persons acting on their own behalf, 'representative professional associations intervene to protect the collective interests of their members'.