Obligation to refer or to state reasons for non-referral under Article 267(3) TFEU : between ideals and reality, distrust and encouragement

Fajdiga, Mohor (author)

Déjà vu: the CJEU rejects the Advocate General’s proposal to revisit the contested CILFIT doctrine. Instead, it confirms its position from C-152/17, Consorzio, that courts of last instance are required to provide reasons for not making a reference under Article 267(3) TFEU. This judgment extends that duty to the context of national filtering mechanisms for accessing apex courts, such as the Slovenian leave to appeal system examined in this case. The ruling imposes a far-reaching obligation under Article 267(3), one that may risk undermining the legitimate goals of national filtering systems. As the aftermath in Slovenia illustrates, national courts are likely to grapple with the implications of this decision. Nevertheless, they remain largely unrestrained in how they exercise their duty under Article 267(3), which suggests that the obligation to provide reasons functions more as an encouragement for careful consideration than as a justiciable standard subject to external review.

• Language: English
• Keywords: C-144/23 KUBERA, CILFIT criteria, duty to state reasons for refusing an application for leave to appeal, national filtering mechanisms, scope of the obligation on national courts or tribunals of last instance to make a reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 267(3) TFEU
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.03 - Other scientific articles
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 171-179
• Numbering: Vol. 71, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184825
• UDC: 341.645:347.992(4-6EU)
• ISSN on article: 2956-8161
• DOI: 10.26881/gsp.2026.2.17
• COBISS.SI-ID: 284921603

Copyright

Licenca Creative Commons je navedena na pristajalni strani članka (glej izvorni URL): The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). (Datum opombe 15. 7. 2026)

• Publication date in RUL: 15.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Gdańskie Studia Prawnicze
• Shortened title: Gdań. Stud. Praw.
• Publisher: Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego
• ISSN: 2956-8161
• COBISS.SI-ID: 185179651

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Polish
• Keywords: zadeva C-144/23 KUBERA, merila CILFIT, dolžnost obrazložitve zavrnitve predloga za dopustitev revizije, nacionalni mehanizmi filtriranja dostopa do vrhovnih sodišč, obseg obveznosti nacionalnih sodišč zadnje stopnje za predložitev predloga za sprejetje predhodne odločbe po tretjem odstavku 267. člena PDEU