Compliance with the interim measures ordered on 14 July 2021 is necessary in order to avoid serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the European Union and to the values on which that Union is founded, in particular that of the rule of law.

By its judgment of 19 November 2019, the Court of Justice, questioned by the Sąd Najwyższy – Izba Pracy i Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (Supreme Court (Labour and Social Insurance Chamber), Poland) held, inter alia, that EU law precludes cases concerning the application of EU law from falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of a court which is neither an independent nor an impartial tribunal. Subsequently, ruling on the disputes which had given rise to its request for a preliminary ruling, the Sąd Najwyższy – Izba Pracy i Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, in its judgments of 5 December 2019 and of 15 January 2020, held in particular that the Izba Dyscyplinarna (Disciplinary Chamber, Poland) of the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court, Poland) cannot, having regard to the circumstances in which it was formed, the extent of its powers, the composition of that chamber and the involvement of the Krajowa Rada Sądownictwa (National Council of the Judiciary, Poland) in its creation, be regarded as a court or tribunal within the meaning of EU or Polish law.

For more: Order of the Vice-President of the Court in Case C-204/21 R Commission v Poland; Case C-204/21.