Judicial protection in the European Economic Area

On 17 June 2011 the EFTA Court hosted a conference dedicated to the Judicial Protection in the European Economic Area at the Cercle Municipal in Luxembourg.  The Conference addressed issues relating to Access to Justice in the EFTA pillar of the EEA, such as infringement actions brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority before the EFTA Court and aspects of the Court’s preliminary reference procedure. Under the title Doing Justice, the Conference then discussed the organisation and workings of the judicial mechanism of the EFTA pillar, such as the number and nomination of judges, the absence of an advocate general and effects of and compliance with EFTA Court rulings. The third topic of the Conference was the Two EEA Courts and the complex relations which exist between the EFTA Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union with regard to the aim of establishing a homogeneous Economic Area, judicial dialogue and judicial conflict.

Key-note speakers were Dr Sven Norberg, Senior Advisor of Kreab & Gavin Anderson, Former Judge of the EFTA Court and Former Director at DG Competition of the European Commission, Professor Dr Hans Petter Graver, Dean of the Law School of the University of Oslo and Professor Eleanor Sharpston, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
 

Panelists were Professor Páll Hreinsson, Justice of the Supreme Court of Iceland, Sabine Monauni-Tömördy, Member of the EFTA Surveillance Authority College, Professor Dr John Temple Lang, Partner Consultant at Cleary Gottlieb Brussels, Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and a Visiting Professor at Trinity College, Dublin, Former Director at DG Competition of the European Commission, Professor Dr Allan Rosas, Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Professor Róbert R. Spanó, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland, Siri Teigum, Attorney at Law, Thommessen, Oslo, Dr. Halvard H. Fredriksen, Senior Researcher at the University of Bergen, Martin Johansson, Attorney at Law, Vinge, Brussels, Former Legal Secretary of the EFTA Court, the Court of First Instance and the Court of Justice of the European Union, Prof. Dr Christian Kohler, University of the Saarland, Former Director General of Research and Documentation of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

President Carl Baudenbacher opened the Conference. The three subjects were presided by Judge Thorgeir Örlygsson, Judge Per Christiansen and Registrar Skúli Magnússon.