The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) was established in 1952 by the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty and serves as the supreme court of the European Union (Department of Communications of the European Community Commission). The mission of the courts is to ensure compliance with the law in the interpretation and application of treaties (Communication Department of the European Commission). As part of its mission, “the Court verifies the legality of acts of the institutions of the European Union, supervises compliance with the obligations deriving from the treaties by the Member States and interprets European Union law at the request of the courts and tribunals national” (Curia). The CJEU is based in Luxembourg and is made up of three courts: the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal (Curia). The Court of Justice has 28 judges; each judge represents an EU country. There are nine advocates general who assist the judges (Curia). It is up to the general advocates "to express, with full impartiality and independence, an opinion on the cases assigned to them" (Curia). Each judge and advocate general are appointed to a six-year term. These mandates can, however, be renewed, the governments of the EU countries choose who they want to appoint or reconfirm (Communication Department of the European Commission). Cases submitted to the court are dealt with in a written phase and an oral phase. Lawyers from both sides present their cases in a public hearing before judges and the Advocate General (Curia). The advocate general then questions the lawyers to form his impartial opinion. Subsequently, the judges discuss the case and all the evidence presented together and then present their judgment (Communication...... middle of paper...... the aim is to ensure that the medicine supplied to the public is "reliable and of good quality” (Taylor). The Court recognizes that the situation could cause a lower quality of services provided to the public and cause a shortage of pharmacies in some parts of Italy. Therefore, the refusal of the Italian Ministry of Health was legitimate and not contrary to community law. Works cited Communication Department of the European Commission. Court of Justice of the European Union 2013. 9 December 2013. .Curia on sales of Rx drugs in parapharmacies 8 December 2013. 8 December. 2013. .