BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR AND PERU
CONCEPT IN RELATION WITH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PREJUDICIAL INTERPRETATION
In Prejudicial Interpretation 38-IP-2014, the Andean Community Court of Justice referred to the obligatory nature of the prejudicial interpretation within the Andean legal framework.
The prejudicial interpretation is a tool that national judges have to ensure that the application of the Andean rules is in accordance with the judicial precedents and maintain legal stability in their field.
The Court stated that the consultation is optional when the judgement is no of sole or final instance. In these cases the national court does not suspend the process. However, the consultation is mandatory in sole instance and final instance cases, in which the process must be suspended until the prejudicial interpretation is received.
In both cases, when the interpretation is requested, it must be taken into account in order to solve the case. Otherwise, a failure by the Member State will constitute a breach of its obligations that can be claimed by the so called “enforcement action”. This action may be promoted by the General Secretary, by and Member State, or any third party affected by the unfulfillment.