Action brought on 29 October 2009 - Dufour v ECB

(Case T-436/09)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Julien Dufour (Jolivet, France) (represented by: I. Schoenacker Rossi, lawyer)

Defendant: European Central Bank

Form of order sought

Annul the confirmatory refusal sent by the Board of Directors of the European Central Bank to Mr Dufour by letter dated 2 September 2009 regarding the databases which made possible the compilation of reports on staff recruitment and mobility;

Consequently, order the European Central Bank to give to Mr Dufour all the databases which made possible the compilation of reports on staff recruitment and mobility;

Order the European Central Bank to pay the sum of EUR 5000 in damages in view of the harm suffered by the applicant;

Order the European Central Bank to pay the costs in their entirety.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the present action, the applicant seeks the annulment of the European Central Bank's decision of 2 September 2009 refusing to grant him access to the databases which made possible the compilation of reports on staff recruitment and mobility from 1999 to 2009 and which he had requested in the course of preparing his doctoral thesis, and an order for damages because of the delay in the writing of his thesis.

In support of his action, the applicant submits that the statement of reasons for the refusal to grant him access to the documents in question is unlawful because it relies on exceptions which are unsubstantiated and not provided for by Decision ECB/2004/3 of the European Central Bank of 4 March 2004 on public access to European Central Bank documents ¹, which was adopted with a view to the implementation of Regulation No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents ², and is based on the incorrect assumption that the fact that the databases are in an unprinted electronic form means that they are not 'documents'. Lastly, the European Central Bank is not entitled to rely on, as against the applicant, the difficulties encountered in making the documents available.

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¹ - OJ 2004 L 80, p. 42.

² - OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43.