European Union – Contract. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding, among other things, that the first paragraph of art 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union had to be interpreted as meaning that the Court had jurisdiction to give a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of a harmonised standard within the meaning of art 4(1) of Council Directive (EEC) 89/106, references to that standard having been published by the Commission in the 'C' series of the Official Journal of the European Union. The request had been made in proceedings concerning the supply of rock aggregate by Irish Asphalt Ltd to James Elliott Construction Ltd (JEC) in the context of the construction of the youth facility at Ballymun in Dublin (Ireland) by JEC.