ABSTRACT
Article 267 TFEU states that the CJEU shall have jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings, and Article 256 TFEU states that the General Court may deliver preliminary rulings in areas to be specifi ed by the Statute of the CJEU. At the time of writing, no such specifi cation has been made and it seems unlikely that the ECJ will relinquish its exclusive jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings.791 However,
if the situation changes in the future, the ECJ will, by virtue of Article 258(3) TFEU, have power to review a preliminary judgment of the General Court in a situation where there will be a serious risk of the unity or consistency of EU law being affected by such a judgment. Further, if the General Court were to have jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings, under Article 258(3) TFEU, it would be entitled to refer a request for a preliminary ruling to the ECJ in respect of cases which would require a decision of principle likely to affect the unity or consistency of EU law (see Chapter 13.11).
