A Dialectic of Effective Judicial Protection and Mutual Trust in the European Administrative Space: Towards the Transnational Judicial Review of Manifest Error?

Abstract

The courts of the EU's Member States have a duty to ensure the effective protection of individuals who are confronted with administrative decisions potentially infringing their rights. However, the principle of mutual trust is often understood as a limit to this protection. This is in so far as it requires domestic courts to abstain from reviewing decisions made by administrations of other Member States, even though such decisions may have effects beyond national boundaries. As transnational administrative procedures become increasingly frequent, this article analyses the implications of the principles of effective judicial protection and of mutual trust on the review of such procedures by domestic courts. It shows how, by gradually allowing domestic courts to review certain types of manifest errors committed beyond their national jurisdiction, the CJEU is moving past the apparent opposition of these principles. It finally argues that developing the transnational judicial review of manifest error may help improve the effective judicial protection of individuals.