Summary

This article analyses the judgment of 17 September 1997 rendered by the Court of Justice of the European Communities in the Dorsch case. The European Court of Justice found a question referred by the German Federal Public Procurement Awards Supervisory Board to the Court for a preliminary ruling admissible. With this judgment, the Court of Justice regarded the Board as a court within the meaning of Article 177 of the EC Treaty. The judgment sets out the criteria which a court must meet: a court is established by law, is permanent, its jurisdiction is compulsory and its procedure is inter partes, it applies rules of law, is independent, administers justice and is competent to render decisions in disputes.