Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 6 December 2012 — Evropaïki Dynamiki v Commission

(Case T‑167/10)

Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Requests for quotation — Refusal to grant access — Action for annulment — Period allowed for commencing proceedings — Point from which time starts to run — Admissibility — Exception relating to the protection of the economic policy of the European Union — Exception relating to the protection of the commercial interests of a third party — Exception relating to the protection of the public interest in the field of public security — Duty to state reasons

1.                     Actions for annulment — Time-limits — Mandatory — Examination by the EU judicature of its own motion (Art. 263, sixth para., TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 102(2)) (see para. 37)

2.                     Actions for annulment — Time-limits — Point from which time starts to run — Date of event causing time to run — Sending of an email — Burden of proof (Art. 263, sixth para., TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 102(2)) (see paras 38, 39, 48, 49)

3.                     European Union — Institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Decision refusing public access to documents — Communication by email — Lawfulness (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 6(1)) (see paras 42, 52)

4.                     European Union — Institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Strict interpretation and application — Requirement that the institution should examine the documents specifically and individually — Scope (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, fourth and eleventh recitals, Arts 1 and 4) (see paras 62, 63, 65, 79)

5.                     European Union — Institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Obligation to state reasons — Scope (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4) (see para. 64)

6.                     European Union — Institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — No obligation to demonstrate the usefulness of the document to the applicant (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(6)) (see para. 78)

Re:

APPLICATION for (i) annulment of the Commission’s decision of 27 January 2010 refusing access to the requests for quotation relating to Lot 3A of tendering procedure DIGIT/PO/2005/113 — ESP-DESIS (OJ 2005/S 252-248566) and (ii) annulment of the Commission’s decision of 11 March 2010 refusing access to requests for quotation relating to all the other lots covered by that tendering procedure, all the lots covered by the tendering procedures DI/0005 ESP (OJ 2001/S 53-036539) and ADMIN/DI/2/PO/2003/192 ESP-DIMA (OJ 2003/S 249-221337) and by Framework Contract BUDG/0101.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the decision of the European Commission of 27 January 2010 refusing access to the requests for quotation relating to Lot 3A of tendering procedure DIGIT/PO/2005/113 — ESP-DESIS;

2. Annuls the Commission’s decision of 11 March 2010 refusing access to requests for quotation relating to all the other lots covered by that tendering procedure, all the lots covered by the tendering procedures DI/0005 ESP and ADMIN/DI/2/PO/2003/192 ESP-DIMA and by Framework Contract BUDG/0101;

3. Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and the costs incurred by Evropaïki Dynamiki — Proigmena Systimata Tilepikoinonion Pliroforikis kai Tilematikis AE.