ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT
14 July 2022 (*)
(Appeal – Intervention – Confidentiality – Information treated as confidential at first instance)
In Case C‑457/21 P,
APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 22 July 2021,
European Commission, represented by P.‑J. Loewenthal and F. Tomat, acting as Agents,
appellant,
the other parties to the proceedings being:
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, represented by A. Germeaux, T. Schell and T. Uri, acting as Agents, and by J. Bracker, A. Steichen and D. Waelbroeck, avocats,
Amazon.com Inc., established in Seattle, Washington (United States),
Amazon EU Sàrl, established in Luxembourg (Luxembourg),
represented by D. Paemen, M. Petite and A. Tombiński, avocats,
applicants at first instance,
Ireland,
intervener at first instance,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,
having regard to the proposal of N. Wahl, Judge-Rapporteur,
after hearing the Advocate General, J. Kokott,
makes the following
Order
1 By its appeal, the European Commission seeks to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 12 May 2021, Luxembourg and Amazon v Commission (T‑816/17 and T‑318/18, EU:T:2021:252; ‘the judgment under appeal’), by which the General Court annulled Commission Decision (EU) 2018/859 of 4 October 2017 on State aid SA.338944 (2014/C) (ex 2014/NN) implemented by Luxembourg to Amazon (OJ 2018 L 153, p. 1).
2 By order of the President of the Court of 15 October 2021, Commission v Amazon.com and Others (C‑457/2021 P, not published, EU:C:2021:900), it was decided that the information redacted from the non-confidential version of the appeal and Annexes 1 and 5 thereto, lodged at the Court Registry on 6 August 2021 by Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon EU Sàrl (together, ‘Amazon’), in agreement with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, would be treated as confidential vis-à-vis Ireland, intervener at first instance, and that that non-confidential version alone would be served, by the Registrar, on Ireland.
3 By order of the President of the Court of 17 November 2021, Commission v Amazon.com and Others (C‑457/21 P, not published, EU:C:2021:1054), it was decided that the information redacted from the non-confidential version of the response and Annex B.1 thereto, lodged at the Court Registry by Amazon on 7 October 2021, would be treated as confidential vis-à-vis Ireland and that that non-confidential version alone would be served, by the Registrar, on that Member State.
4 By order of the President of the Court of 10 May 2022, Commission v Amazon.com and Others (C‑457/21 P, not published, EU:C:2022:392), it was decided that the information redacted from the non-confidential version of the Commission’s reply and Annexes C.1 and C.3 thereto, lodged at the Court Registry on 6 April 2022 by Amazon, in agreement with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, would be treated as confidential vis-à-vis Ireland and that that non-confidential version alone would be served, by the Registrar, on Ireland.
5 On 23 May 2022, Amazon lodged its rejoinder.
6 By document lodged at the Court Registry on the same day, Amazon requested the Court to treat as confidential, vis-à-vis Ireland, certain information contained in paragraphs 2, 27, 34 and 60 of the rejoinder and in footnotes 63 and 71 thereto. At the same time as that request for confidential treatment, Amazon sent a non-confidential version of the rejoinder to the Court Registry.
7 The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg also lodged its rejoinder on 23 May 2022.
8 By document lodged at the Court Registry on the same day, that Member State requested the Court to treat, vis-à-vis Ireland, certain information set out in paragraphs 37, 57, 58, 60 and 62 of the rejoinder as confidential. At the same time as that request for confidential treatment, it sent a non-confidential version of the rejoinder to the Court Registry.
9 By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 3 June 2022, Amazon agreed with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s request and indicated that it had no further request to make in that regard.
10 By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 10 June 2022, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in turn approved Amazon’s request and indicated that it had no further request to make in that regard.
11 It should be borne in mind that 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. Moreover, in accordance with Article 172 of those rules, 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.
12 However, where a party is requesting, vis-à-vis a party that intervened before the General Court, confidential treatment in respect of material produced before the Court of Justice which has already been treated as confidential vis-à-vis that same party in the proceedings at first instance, that 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 14 December 2020, Commission v Ireland and Others, C‑465/20 P, not published, EU:C:2020:1027, paragraph 12 and the case-law cited).
13 In the present case, it should be noted, first, that the request for confidential treatment of the rejoinder lodged by Amazon refers to information in its application and its reply lodged with the General Court which had already been given confidential treatment by that court vis-à-vis Ireland and to information which was omitted from the public version of the judgment under appeal notified to Ireland.
14 Secondly, as regards the request for confidential treatment of the rejoinder lodged by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, that request relates in its entirety to information that was also omitted from the public version of the judgment under appeal, notified to Ireland.
15 Accordingly, the requests made by Amazon and by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg that the Court should treat as confidential vis-à-vis Ireland the redacted information in the non-confidential versions of their respective rejoinders, lodged at the Court Registry on 23 May 2022, must be granted.
16 In those circumstances, only the non-confidential version of each of those rejoinders, lodged at the Court Registry by Amazon and by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on 23 May 2022, should be served on Ireland.
On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:
1. The information redacted from the non-confidential versions of the rejoinders lodged at the Court Registry on 23 May 2022, on the one hand, by Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon EU Sàrl and, on the other hand, by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg shall be treated as confidential vis-à-vis Ireland. Only those non-confidential versions shall be required to be served, by the Registrar, on Ireland.
2. The costs are reserved.
Luxembourg, 14 July 2022.
A. Calot Escobar | | K. Lenaerts |