The EU Court of Justice published its latests statistics concerning judicial activity. In 2011, it was reached a new record in the number of actions brought before and disposed of by the three judicial organs of the Court of Justice of the European Union. However increased efficiency and significant internal reforms have not completely absorbed the increase in caseload.

The judicial activity in 2011 shows that the number of actions brought before and disposed of by the three judicial organs of the Court of Justice of the European Union continued to rise (1569 new cases). However, this increase in the caseload has not been completely absorbed despite record productivity (1518 cases completed in 2011). This tend is being applied at least, since 2007.

With regard to the data released for the Court of Justice, it were completed 638 cases in 2011, an increase of more than 10% compared with the previous year (574 cases completed in 2010). In 2011 the Court had 688 new cases brought before it, which amounts to a significant increase compared with 2010 (631 new cases) and for the second year in succession is the highest number in the Court’s history.

On the other hand, for the General Court, 2011 can be classified as a record year. The total of 722 new cases registered amounts to an increase of nearly 15% compared with 2010 (636 cases brought), a year which likewise saw the number of new cases rise to a level not reached before. Also, the remarkable advance in the number of cases decided (+35%) – the fruit of the far-reaching reforms implemented by the General Court – indicates an unprecedented degree of activity for the Court; it completed 714 cases (as against 527 in 2010), to which 52 applications for interim measures should be added.

The statistics concerning the Civil Service Tribunal’s judicial activity show a further significant increase in 2011 in the number of cases brought (159) compared with 2010 (139), a year which had already shown a marked increase in the number of cases brought (111 in 2008 and 113 in 2009). The number of cases completed (166) is much higher than the number in the previous year (129) and constitutes the Civil Service Tribunal’s best quantitative results since its creation. It should also be noted that the average duration of proceedings decreased significantly (14.2 months in 2011 compared with 18.1 months in 2010).