The East African Court of Justice Rules of Procedure 2013 SIXTH SCHEDULE: PROCEDURE FOR A REFERENCE FOR PRELIMINARY RULING (Rule 76) (1) In the cases governed by Article 34 of the Treaty, the decision of the court or tribunal of a Partner State which suspends its proceedings and refers a case to the Court shall be notified to the Court by the court or tribunal concerned. (2) The decision shall then be notified by the Registrar to the parties, to the Partner States and to the Secretary General, and to the organ or institution of the Community which adopted the act the validity or interpretation of which is in dispute. (3) Within two (2) months of this notification, the parties, the Partner States, the Secretary General and, where appropriate, the organ or institution which adopted the act the validity or interpretation of which is in dispute, shall be entitled to submit statements of case or written observations to the Court. (4) The statements of case or written observations which have been lodged shall also be served on the parties and the other persons referred to in Paragraph (2) above. (5) The date of the hearing shall be notified to the parties and those other persons referred to in Paragraph (2) above at the same time as the documents referred to in Paragraph (3) are served. (6) As regards the representation and attendance of the parties to the main proceedings in the preliminary ruling procedure, the Court shall take account of the rules of procedure of the national court or tribunal which made the reference. (7) Where a question referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling is identical to a question on which the Court has already ruled, or where the answer to such a question may be clearly deduced from existing case-law, the Court may, at any time give its decision by reasoned order in which reference is made to its previous judgment or to the relevant case-law. 93