Brussels, 20/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The General Court of the European Union ruled partly in favour of the ALDE MEP in her dispute with the European Commission on the partial refusal of access to documents on ACTA.
In its ruling on 19 March (Case T-301/10), the General Court rules in favour of Sophie in't Veld (ALDE, Netherlands) on the fact that certain documents of a general nature - which were kept secret - should have been disclosed. By contrast, the General Court rules in favour of the European Commission on keeping documents secret which relate to the development of negotiations behind closed doors and to the negotiation positions of participating countries - an exception provided for by Regulation 1049/2001 on the access to documents of the EU institutions, according to which a request can be refused when the disclosure of a document would harm the public interest, when it is a matter of international relations. At the end of 2008, In't Veld had requested access to all the documents linked to ACTA.
The European Parliament rejected ACTA in July 2012. The Court of Justice of the EU still has to give its decision on the Commission's request concerning the legality of ACTA - a request filed in May 2012. (EH/transl.fl)