Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 5 December 2018 –
Sumner v Commission
(Case T‑152/17)
(Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Documents concerning an infringement procedure brought by the Commission against Ireland — Refusal of access — Exception concerning the protection of inspections, investigations and audits — General presumption — Overriding public interest)
1. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Strict interpretation and application — Obligation to make a specific and individual examination for documents covered by an exception — Scope
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Recital 4 and Arts 1 and 4)
(see paras 25, 27)
2. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits — Scope — Application to the documents in the Commission’s administrative file concerning an ongoing infringement procedure — Included
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), third indent)
(see para. 28)
3. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Refusal to grant access — Obligation to state reasons — Scope — Possibility of relying on general presumptions applicable to certain categories of documents — Limits
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2))
(see paras 29, 30, 59)
4. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits — Application to documents concerning a procedure for failure to fulfil obligations during the pre-litigation phase of the latter — General presumption that the exception applies to the right of access to all the documents on the administrative file — Whether permissible — Need for the applicability of specific legislation providing for a more restrictive framework than that of Regulation No 1049/2001 for the disclosure of the documents requested — Absence
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), third indent)
(see paras 31, 32, 35, 39)
5. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Documents originating from the institutions held by national authorities — Applicability of national rules to requests for access
(Art. 4(3) TEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Recital 15 and Art. 5)
(see para. 40)
6. Actions for annulment — Review of legality — Criteria — Account taken only of elements of fact and law existing at the date on which the contested measure was adopted
(Art. 263 TFEU)
(see para. 42)
7. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits — Reliance on a general presumption that the exception applies to the documents requested — Effects of applying the presumption — Disclosure of the content in part — Not included
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), third indent)
(see para. 49)
8. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits — Overriding public interest justifying the disclosure of documents — Reliance on the principle of transparency and on the right of the public to be informed of the work of the institutions — Need to put forward particular considerations in relation to the case
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), third indent)
(see paras 60, 61, 64)
9. EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Overriding public interest justifying the disclosure of documents — Concept — Request for access to documents concerning an infringement procedure opened by the Commission against a Member State — Particular interest of the person concerned in assessing the viability of proceedings to be brought at national level — Not included
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2))
(see para. 62)
Re:
| Application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2017) 247 final of 13 January 2017 refusing access to documents relating to infringement procedure 2014/4131 brought against Ireland regarding the application of Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ 2003 L 299, p. 9). |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Ms Loreto Sumner to pay the costs; |
3. | | Orders Ireland to bear its own costs. |