Judicial protection is a cornerstone of European Union (EU) law. However, the limited review applied by EU Courts to trade defence instruments (TDIs) historically tends to grant a wide amount of deference to the Community Institutions administering such TDIs. Because of this limited review the Court proceedings in TDI matters tend to be less important and decisive than in other areas of EU law. In our 2009 survey we saw signs of improvement in the situation with the EU Courts timidly widening the judicial protection granted to individuals. These signs of improvement however, seem to have disappeared in 2010 as not a single applicant was able to successfully challenge TDI matters before the courts during the year.
Global Trade and Customs Journal