Considers, with reference to case law, why, if the highest national courts of EU Member States reject a request by litigants for a reference to the ECJ, they may violate the ECHR. Explains how a failure to refer may rebut the ECtHR's presumption that the EU offers equivalent human rights protections to the ECHR, and how failure to give reasons for not referring may infringe the right to a fair trial under ECHR art.6(1).