A Legal Review of EU Boards of Appeal: Part 2 The Role and Functioning of EU Boards of Appeal - European Public Law View A Legal Review of EU Boards of Appeal: Part 2 The Role and Functioning of EU Boards of Appeal by - European Public Law A Legal Review of EU Boards of Appeal: Part 2 The Role and Functioning of EU Boards of Appeal 30 3

EU Agencies’ decision-making should have credibility with stakeholders and the public. Boards of Appeal (BOAs) play an important role in safeguarding the quality and credibility of Agencies’ decision-making, and the resultant confidence that stakeholders and the public can have in it. The amendment to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to include BOAs into the judicial architecture, denotes the confidence that the Courts have in the legal ability for BOAs to fulfil this role. Recent case-law from the EU Courts further underlines the importance of the role itself. This paper focuses on the clarified legal status of BOAs, their independence, the division of responsibilities between BOAs and their respective agencies, and the challenges – in practice – of bridging the legal expectations of BOAs, with the practical realities.

European Public Law