Judgment of the General Court of 9 September 2014 — MasterCard and Others v Commission
(Case T-516/11) 1
(Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Documents relating to a study of the costs and benefits to merchants of accepting different payment methods — Documents drawn up by a third party — Refusal of access — Exception relating to the protection of the decision-making process — Exception relating to the protection of the commercial interests of a third party)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: MasterCard, Inc. (Wilmington, Delaware, United States); MasterCard International, Inc., (New York, New York, United States); and MasterCard Europe (Waterloo, Belgium) (represented initially by B. Amory, V. Brophy and S. McInnes, and subsequently by B. Amory and V. Brophy, lawyers)
Defendant: European Commission (represented by: F. Clotuche-Duvieusart and V. Bottka, Agents)
Re:
Action for annulment of the Commission decision of 12 July 2011 refusing the applicants access to certain documents drawn up by a third party relating to a study of the costs and benefits to merchants of accepting different payment methods.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Annuls the decision of the European Commission of 12 July 2011 refusing MasterCard, Inc., MasterCard International, Inc. and MasterCard Europe access to certain documents drawn up by a third party relating to a study of the costs and benefits to merchants of accepting different payment methods in so far as it refuses access to the documents relating to:
costs and benefits to merchants of accepting different payment methods (inception report of 2 June 2009);
costs and benefits to merchants of accepting different payment methods — part 1 of the methodology report of 28 September 2009 [revised version incorporating comments received from stakeholders and the Competition Directorate-General (DG) of the European Commission];
in-depth interview test results on costs of payments: analyses of the in-depth interviews held in the Netherlands, Hungary and the United Kingdom, 15 January 2010 (version provided on 9 March 2010);
draft online questionnaire, 8 March 2010;
results and conclusions of the internet feasibility test: draft report, 24 May 2010;
Orders the Commission to pay the costs.
________________________1 OJ C 347, 26.11.2011.