Judgment of the General Court of 13 January 2011 - IFAW Internationaler Tierschutz-Fonds v European Commission
(Access to documents - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Documents relating to the carrying out of an industrial project in an area protected under Directive 92/43/EEC - Documents originating from a Member State - Objection on the part of the Member State - Partial refusal of access - Exception relating to the economic policy of a Member State - Article 4(5) to (7) of Regulation No 1049/2001)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: IFAW Internationaler Tierschutz-Fonds gGmbH (Hamburg, Germany) (represented by: S. Crosby, Solicitor and S. Santoro, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: C. O'Reilly and P. Costa de Oliveira, Agents)
Interveners in support of the applicant : Kingdom of Denmark (represented by J. Bering Liisberg and B. Weis Fogh, Agents); Republic of Finland (represented initially by J. Heliskoski, M. Pere and H. Leppo, and later by J. Heliskoski, Agents); and Kingdom of Sweden (represented by K. Petkovska, A. Falk and S. Johannesson, Agents)
Re:
Annulment of the Commission's decision of 19 June 2008 partly refusing to grant the applicant access to certain documents transmitted to the Commission by the German authorities in connection with a procedure for the declassification of a site protected under Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7).
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders IFAW Internationaler Tierschutz-Fonds gGmbH to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Sweden to bear their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 301, 22.11.2008.