Brussels, 27/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Access to a submission by a member state in legal proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU and held by the European Commission cannot automatically be denied to a European citizen.
That was the ruling of the General Court of the EU in case T-188/12 on Friday 27 February. The Court thereby annulled a decision by the Commission which had refused a request from an Austrian citizen, Patrick Breyer, to have access to submissions presented to the Court of Justice by Austria in infringement proceedings brought by the Commission for failure by Austria to transpose the data retention directive. Even though the case was closed, the Commission refused access to the documents, copies of which it held, on the grounds that they do not fall within the scope of Regulation No 1049/2001, which governs access to documents held by European institutions. Breyer challenged this decision in the General Court.
On Friday, the Court annulled the Commission decision since the written submissions at issue are not documents of the Court of Justice. Documents forming part of judicial activities are excluded from the scope of the right to access. The submissions here fall within the scope of the regulation and, so, the Commission cannot automatically deny access to them since the treaties make provision for a right of access to the institutions' documents.
This ruling, however, does not guarantee that Breyer will, ultimately, have access to the documents, the Court states, since it will now be for the Commission to decide. The Regulation provides for exceptions to the right of access, such as the exception concerning the protection of court proceedings. Austria may also ask the Commission not to disclose its documents. (Jan Kordys)