Third Parties’ Intervention before the Boards of Appeal

In the context of the EU judicial system, access to trials for third parties is governed by Art. 40 of the Statute, with provides several restrictions for individuals. Moreover, there is no possibility of participating in the proceedings before the ECJ as amicus curiae. As far as the Boards of Appeals (“BoAs”) of the agencies are concerned, it is possible to observe a great variety of solutions for third parties’ intervention within their proceedings. In some cases, third parties are completely prevented from intervening in proceedings before the BoAs: this is the case of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (“EUIPO”) (with a peculiar exception), the Community Plant Variety Office (“CVPO”), the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (“EASA”), the Single Resolution Board (“SRB”), European Supervisory Authorities (“ESAs”) whose rules of procedure do not contain any norms on the intervention. In other cases, this is possible, as long as a «direct and existing interest in the result of the case», as in the case of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (“ACER”) or just «an interest in the result of the case», as in the case of the European Chemical Agency (“ECHA”) or a «legitimate interest in the result of the proceedings», as in the case of the European Union Agency for Railways (“ERA”) is established. This paper will briefly analyse the BoAs’ intervention rules in the context of the specificities of each agency, in order to assess whether the current rules are sufficient to allow third parties’ interests to be duly taken into account, distinguishing between general and specific interests. Finally, some possible solutions are outlined to improve the position of third parties before the BoAs.