Language of document : ECLI:EU:C:2021:637

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT

16 July 2021(*)

(Appeal – Intervention – Confidentiality – Information treated as confidential at first instance)

In Case C‑320/21 P,

APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 21 May 2021,

Ryanair DAC, established in Swords (Ireland), represented by V. Blanc, E. Vahida and F.-C. Laprévote, avocats, S. Rating, abogado, and I.-G. Metaxas-Maranghidis, dikigoros,

appellant,

the other parties to the proceedings being:

European Commission,

defendant at first instance,

French Republic,

Kingdom of Sweden,

SAS AB, established in Stockholm (Sweden),

interveners at first instance,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,

having regard to the proposal of S. Rodin, Judge-Rapporteur,

after hearing the Advocate General, G. Pitruzzella,

makes the following

Order

1        By its appeal, Ryanair DAC seeks to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 14 April 2021, Ryanair v Commission (SAS, Sweden; Covid-19) (T‑379/20, EU:T:2021:195), by which the General Court dismissed its application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 2784 final of 24 April 2020 on State aid SA.57061 (2020/N) – Sweden – Compensation for the damage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak to Scandinavian Airlines.

2        By documents lodged at the Court Registry on 1 June 2021, Ryanair requests that the Court grant confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the French Republic, the Kingdom of Sweden, and SAS AB, interveners at first instance, to information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 19 of the abridged version of its application at first instance, which is annexed to its appeal (Annex P. 2), and, vis-à-vis SAS alone, to information relating to social security contributions, taxes and charges paid, as set out in paragraph 18 of that application. To that end, Ryanair submits, as an annex to each request to the Court for confidential treatment, a non-confidential version of the application in question, which reflects the effect of the corresponding request.

3        Similar confidential treatment had already been granted on a provisional basis, vis-à-vis the French Republic, the Kingdom of Sweden and SAS, to the information referred to in the request which is the subject of the present order, in connection with the proceedings at first instance, by order of the President of the Tenth Chamber (Extended Composition) of the General Court of 7 October 2020, subject to the possibility for those parties to object to that confidential treatment. Since no objection was raised in that regard, according to the file sent by the General Court to the Court of Justice, the grant of confidential treatment, ordered on a provisional basis by the General Court in that order, became final on 23 October 2020.

4        Article 171(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice provides that the appeal is to be served on the other parties to the relevant case before the General Court. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 172 of the Rules of Procedure, any party to the relevant case before the General Court having an interest in the appeal being allowed or dismissed may submit a response within two months after service of the appeal on that party. It follows from those provisions that the appeal, and the other procedural documents lodged before the Court of Justice, are also to be served, in principle, on the parties given leave to intervene before the General Court.

5        However, where a party is requesting, vis-à-vis parties who intervened before the General Court, confidential treatment in respect of material produced before the Court of Justice which has already been treated as confidential in relation to those same parties in the proceedings at first instance, the same confidential treatment must, in principle, be maintained for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court of Justice (order of the President of the Court of 13 December 2016, Lundbeck v Commission, C‑591/16 P, not published, EU:C:2016:967, paragraph 5).

6        It follows from the foregoing that it is necessary to grant Ryanair’s request for the Court of Justice to grant confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the French Republic and the Kingdom of Sweden, in respect of the information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 19 of the abridged version of its application at first instance, annexed to its appeal (Annex P. 2), and, vis-à-vis SAS, in addition to that information in paragraph 19 of that application, in respect of the information relating to social security contributions, taxes and charges paid, as set out in paragraph 18 of the application in question. Only the appropriate non-confidential version of that application, redacting that information in those paragraphs, will be served by the Registrar on those two Member States and on SAS respectively.

On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:

1.      Confidential treatment is granted, vis-à-vis the French Republic and the Kingdom of Sweden, to the information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 19 of the abridged version of the application at first instance, annexed to Ryanair DAC’s appeal (Annex P. 2), and, vis-à-vis SAS AB, in addition to that information in paragraph 19 of that application, to the information relating to social security contributions, taxes and charges paid, as set out in paragraph 18 of the application in question, information which had already been granted similar confidential treatment in the case giving rise to the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 14 April 2021, Ryanair v Commission (SAS, Sweden; Covid-19) (T379/20, EU:T:2021:195), and only the appropriate non-confidential version of the application, redacting that information in those paragraphs, shall be served by the Registrar on those two Member States and on SAS respectively.


2.      The costs are reserved.


Luxembourg, 16 July 2021.


A. Calot Escobar

 

K. Lenaerts

Registrar

 

President


*      Language of the case: English.