Editing General Court (European Union) (section)

==Procedure==
The General Court has its own Rules of Procedure. The 1991 rules were replaced by revised Rules of Procedure which came into effect on 1 July 2015.<ref>General Court of the European Union, [https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2015-06/cp150073en.pdf New procedural rules adopted by the General Court], Press Release 73/15, published 19 June 2015, accessed 15 November 2022</ref> In the main, the Court's procedure includes a written phase and an oral phase. The proceedings are conducted in a language at the petitioner's choosing. As in the [[European Court of Justice]], the working language of the Court is nevertheless French, and this includes the language the judges deliberate in and the drafting language of preliminary reports and judgments.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXm6CQ_wN7sC&q=european+court+of+justice+working+language+french&pg=PA25 |title=Comparative legal linguistics – Heikki E. S. Mattila – Google Boeken |access-date=27 January 2012|isbn=9780754648741 |last1=Mattila |first1=Heikki E. S. |year=2006 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing }}</ref>

The Court is separated into 9 divisions (called 'chambers') sat by 3-judge benches, except for the 7th division whose bench is sat by 4 judges. Each chamber has an extended composition of 5 judges. Cases are assigned by the President of the Court to a relevant divisional presiding judge. The presiding judge assigned to the case then chooses a judge-reporter (''judge-rapporteur'') from the judges of the division, whose clerks write a preliminary report (''rapport préalable'') based on the parties' pleadings and applicable law.

At the close of the written phase and, as the case may be, on adoption of measures of inquiry, the case is argued orally in open court. The proceedings are interpreted simultaneously, if necessary, into various official languages of the European Union. The judges then deliberate based on a draft judgment prepared by the judge-reporter. The Court's final judgment is handed down in open court.