Introduction

This chapter provides the introduction to the edited volume by spotlighting the Boards of Appeal (BoAs) in the context of the rise of agencies in the EU administration. It sets out how BoAs are internal review bodies of EU agencies that allow a certain level of administrative protection which needs to be exhausted before private parties can seize the EU Courts but which, in principle, also allows a more in-depth review of agency decisions compared to the review offered by the courts. Sketching this context, the chapter identifies the overarching research question of the edited volume as how the Boards of Appeal should be conceptualized and assessed both as a mechanism of legal protection and as to the degree to which they deliver on their theoretic potential of more intense scrutiny. The introduction thereby also clarifies the approach adopted in the edited volume, the first part of which is devoted to a series of case studies of specific BoAs or agencies, while the second part brings together chapters devoted to horizontal issues.