Language of document : ECLI:EU:T:2013:8





Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 15 January 2013 —
Strack v Commission

(Case T‑392/07)

Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Documents relating to confirmatory applications for access to documents and to a case brought before the General Court — Document register — Action for annulment — Implied refusal of access — Interest in bringing proceedings — Admissibility — Partial refusal of access — Exception relating to the protection of the privacy and the integrity of the individual — Exception relating to the protection of the decision-making process — Duty to state reasons — Non-contractual liability

1.                     Judicial proceedings — Admissibility of actions — Judged by reference to the situation when the application was lodged — Decision replacing the contested decision during the proceedings — Adaptation of initial forms of order sought and pleas in law — Not relevant to the assessment of the admissibility of the action (see paras 39, 68-70)

2.                     Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Concept — Measures producing binding legal effects — Preparatory measures — Not included (Art. 263 TFEU) (see paras 41, 42)

3.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Application concerning a very large number of documents — Right of the institution to extend the time limit for adopting the decision by agreement with the applicant — Exceptional character — Absence of an arrangement — Application of the time limit giving rise to an implicit rejection decision — Suspension of the time limit for action against that decision — Exclusion (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 6(3)) (see paras 45-47, 50-52)

4.                     Actions for annulment — Natural or legal persons — Interest in bringing proceedings — Action brought against an implicit rejection decision of an institution concerning an application for access to documents — Decision replaced during the proceedings with an express decision — Applicant having brought a new action against that latter decision — No further interest in bringing an action (Art. 263 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001) (see paras 54-63)

5.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Commission not complying with time limits for responding to an application for access — Implied rejection decision — Maintaining of the Commission’s power to reply outside the time limits to the application for access (Art. 296 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Arts 7 and 8(1) and (2)) (see paras 64, 65)

6.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Distinction between document and information — No obligation on an institution to reply to any application for information by an individual (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 3(a)) (see paras 74, 75)

7.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Concept of document — Extract from the register of documents of the institution — Included (Art. 263 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001) (see paras 77, 78)

8.                     Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Concept — Decision to refuse access to documents based on the finding that the document requested does not exist — Included (Art. 263 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001) (see para. 79)

9.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Limitations of the principle of access to documents — Existence of the documents forming the subject matter of the application for access — Presumption of non-existence based on the statement to that effect by the institution concerned — Simple presumption rebuttable on the basis of relevant and consistent evidence (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001) (see paras 80, 81)

10.                     Actions for annulment — Jurisdiction of the EU judicature — Claim seeking that directions be issued to an institution — Not permissible (Arts 264 TFEU and 266 TFEU) (see para. 90)

11.                     Judicial proceedings — Division of jurisdiction between the various courts of the European Union — Claim for compensation for excessive duration of the court proceedings — Application by the applicant to refer the claim before the Court — Need to bring an independent action — Claims seeking declaration that the decision of the President of the General Court to refer a case before another judgment formation was unlawful — Inadmissibility (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 47) (see para. 93)

12.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Institution’s duty of assistance where application not sufficiently precise — Application for access to an non-existent document — Duty of the institution to create the document — Exclusion (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Arts 6(2), and 11) (see paras 96, 98)

13.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Obligation of the institutions to establish and contain in a register the documentation concerning their activities — Non-inclusion of certain documents — Refusal of access to those documents — Illegality of the refusal (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Arts 2 and 11(3)) (see paras 99-102)

14.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Obligation to state reasons — Scope — Blanking out of information contained in documents — No statement of reasons — Unlawfulness (Art. 296 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1) and (2)) (see paras 108, 109, 116)

15.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Requirement that the institution should examine the documents specifically and individually — Unreasonable burden of work — Burden of proof lying with the institution — Obligation of the institution to liaise with the applicant — Unilateral limitation of the number of documents — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4) (see paras 141-147)

16.                     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 — Principle of proportionality (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4) (see paras 158-164, 220, 235)

17.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual — Scope — Names, e-mails, addresses and telephone numbers of physical persons — Included — Applicability of the provisions of Regulation No 45/2001 to any application for access to documents containing personal data — Obligation on the institution to use a coding replacing those data — Extent of that obligation — Application of the principle of proportionality (Art. 6 EU; European Parliament and Council Regulations No 45/2001 and No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1)(b)) (see paras 167, 173, 190-212)

18.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Limitations of the right of access to documents — Documents originating from third parties — Differential treatment of requests for access — Obligation on the institution not to disclose them without prior agreement — Non-application of that obligation where an exception to the right of access clearly applies (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(4)) (see paras 176-178)

19.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the commercial interests of a third party — Figures on the profitability, market share or production costs of certain undertakings — Included — Need for the applicant to prove the existence of a higher public interest in the publication of those data (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), first indent) (see paras 221, 226-230)

20.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the objectives of inspection, investigation and audit activities — Scope — Exception covering only documents for internal use of an institution in the context of deliberations and preliminary consultations within the institution — Obligation on the institution to demonstrate a serious undermining of the decision-making process (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(3)) (see paras 235-246)

21.                     Non-contractual liability — Conditions — Unlawfulness — Damage — Causal link — Cumulative conditions — Unlawful conduct constituted by failure to act in relation to a normative measure — Sufficiently serious breach of a higher rule of law protecting individuals — No sufficiently direct link between the allegedly unlawful conduct and the damage allegedly suffered — No liability (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see paras 255-267)

Re:

Firstly, annulment of all implied and express decisions of the Commission adopted following the initial application for access to documents made by Mr Strack on 20 June 2007 and, secondly, an action for damages.

Operative part

The Court:

1.

Declares that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the lawfulness of the implied decisions refusing access;

2.

Annuls the decision of the Commission of 25 July 2007 refusing access to an extract from the register;

3.

Annuls the decision of 23 October 2007 concerning the OLAF documents in so far as it relates to data concerning legal persons;

4.

Annuls the decisions of the Commission of 28 November 2007 and 15 February 2008 concerning the Commission documents (not including the OLAF documents);

5.

Annuls the decisions of the Commission of 28 November 2007 and 9 April 2008 concerning the documents connected with Case T‑110/04, in so far as they concern, firstly, the removal of data concerning legal persons when the reasons for that removal were not based on Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, secondly, the removal of documents and data on the basis of Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation No 1049/2001, with the exception of the removal of the names and addresses of the officials of the European Commission Directorate-General ‘Trade’ and the applicant’s accusations made against them in Case T‑110/04, and, thirdly, the removal of documents and data on the basis of the second subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation No 1049/2001;

6.

Dismisses the remainder of the action;

7.

Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay two thirds of the costs of Mr Guido Strack.