Starting from the judgment of the Court of First Instance in case T-177/01 Jégo-Quéré, the work submitted as a dissertation at the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck in 2005 deals with the design of the community law protection system, focusing on the analysis of case law regarding the conditions for actions for annulment under Article 230(4) EC. To provide a comprehensive overview of the protection system at the European level, the work also addresses the preliminary ruling procedure, the possibilities for interim relief, non-contractual liability claims, and the issue of state liability. A potential perspective is seen in the revision of Article 230(4) EC as provided for in the Constitutional Convention. The analysis of the Convention documents illustrates how the reasoning of the Court of Justice has evolved.