In the interests of transparency, the Commission is responsible for the communication of documents of committees which assist it in the exercise of its tasks and may not rely upon the external authorship rule.
Rothmans, a company which manufactures, distributes and sells tobacco products, in particular cigarettes, requested from the Commission access to the minutes of the Customs Code Committee. This committee is composed of representatives of the Member States and is presided by a representative of the Commission. It assists the Commission with the carrying out of the tasks which are conferred upon it by the Council.
The Commission refused access to the minutes. It explained that according to the internal regulation of the Customs Code Committee, the work of the Committee is confidential and that the Commission is not the author of the documents in question even though it chaired the meetings. Furthermore, according to the Community rules on transparency, the Commission is not competent to provide access to documents of which it is not the author.
Rothmans brought an action before the Court of First Instance seeking the annulment of the decision of the Commission refusing access to the minutes of Customs Code Committee, and argued that in fact the Commission was the author of the documents.
The Court of First Instance refers at the outset to the general principle of transparency which confers on citizens the greatest right to have access to documents held by the Commission. In order to ensure that this principle is observed, the exceptions to the principle, for example the rule on authorship of the act in question, must be interpreted and applied strictly.
In relation to the independance and autonomy of the Committee, and, in a wider context, the "comitology" committees in which it takes part, the Court of First Instance concludes that these committees, for the purposes of the Community rules on access to documents, come under the Commission itself. They assist the Commission in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the Council and do not have separate infrastructures.
The Commission infringed the rules of transparency by refusing access to the minutes of the Customs Code Committee on the basis that it was not the author.
The Court of First Instance therefore annuls the decision of the Commission.
NB. An appeal against this judgment of the Court of First Instance, limited to points of law, may be brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities within two months of notification.
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