retsinstanser, især underretterne; den præjudicielle procedure er snævert forbundet hermed, eftersom de italienske retter i adskillige sager, der er forelagt i medfør af artikel 177, har anmodet Domstolen om at fastlægge række vidden af fællesskabsretlige bestemmelser med henblik på at sætte dem i stand til at afgøre, om deres egen nationale lovgivning var i strid med disse bestemmelser.
It has come from the lower courts, in particular those of first instance and is closely linked to the procedure for requesting preliminary rulings since, in several cases referred to the Court of Justice under Article 177, Italian courts have asked it to define the scope of certain provisions of Community law to enable them to give a ruling as to the compatibility of their own national legislation with the provisions of that law.