10. Judicial protection before the Court of Justice of the European Union

This chapter provides an overview of the various procedural avenues to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It uses as a template the division between two main sets of proceedings: direct actions and preliminary references. Direct actions are brought directly either before the Court of Justice or the General Court; these are dealt with in their entirety by these courts. By contrast, preliminary references begin before a national court. When this court encounters a question on the interpretation or the validity of EU law, it may (or sometimes must) make a preliminary reference on this particular point to the Court of Justice.