Court of the Eurasian Economic Union: The Beginning

Abstract

This article is based on 7.5 years of work experience in the Courts of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and, therefore, finalizes the major problems the mentioned judicial institutions faced with in the beginning of their functioning. The Eurasian Economic Union in post-Soviet space was created five years ago with minimal established doctrinal and practical perceptions of how such an organization may interact with State sovereignty and whether it constituted the first step for the subsequent emergence of a new State. The authors believe that the EAEU should not be confused with the State and should be considered a new type of international organization, supranational, to which member States transferred competence. In this organization the Court plays an important role – its main function is to ensure the uniform application of Union law by hearing disputes and providing advisory opinions in various spheres of integration and, therefore, establish practice having an erga omnes effect in the law of the Union and national legal systems of States. Just as in other international courts, the main role in the EAEU Court functioning is played by judges nominated by national governments, sometimes without taking into account the sui generis character of their future work. Taking into consideration the valuable experience from other international courts and organizations (such as the International Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights, International Law Association), the authors suggest ways for improvement of future Court functioning by creating mechanisms that would monitor the qualities of candidates for the post of the EAEU Court judge.