Boards of Appeal of EU Agencies

Abstract

This book is devoted to the Boards of Appeal of the EU agencies. While EU agencies are a diverse group, one subcategory among them has been granted the power to adopt binding decisions. Those agencies have also been established with an organizationally separate administrative review body, a Board of Appeal (BoA). In theory, these BoAs have a dual function, that is filtering cases before they end up before the courts and providing parties with expert review of scientifically or technically complex decisions. Despite this common function, the BoAs of different EU agencies remain heterogenous in their set up and functioning. In addition, the degree to which the BoAs actually live up to the expectation of a more in-depth scrutiny of EU administrative action remains an open question. The book provides in-depth analysis on the functions of the BoAs, what kind of review do they offer, and how should they be conceptualized in the EU’s overall system of legal protection against administrative action. It presents a series of case studies that cover the existing EU BoAs and looks into the horizontal issues raised by the phenomenon of the BoA.