Request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State (Netherlands) lodged on 7 July 2022 – RTL Nederland BV, RTL Nieuws BV; Other party: Minister van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat
(Case C-451/22)
Language of the case: Dutch
Referring court
Raad van State
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: RTL Nederland BV, RTL Nieuws BV
Other party: Minister van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat
Questions referred
What should be understood by details of ‘occurrences’ and ‘appropriate confidentiality’ as referred to in Article 15(1) of the Occurrences Regulation 1 and in the light of the right to freedom of expression and information enshrined in Article 11 of the EU Charter and Article 10 of the ECHR?
Is Article 15(1) of the Occurrences Regulation, in the light of the right to freedom of expression and information enshrined in Article 11 of the EU Charter and Article 10 of the ECHR, to be interpreted as being compatible with a national rule, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, by virtue of which no information received from reported occurrences may be disclosed?
If the answer to Question 2 is in the negative: is the competent national authority permitted to apply a general national rule on disclosure by virtue of which information is not disclosed if disclosure would be outweighed by the interests concerned with, for example, relations with other States and international organisations, with inspection, control and monitoring by administrative authorities, with respect for privacy and with preventing natural and legal persons from being disproportionately advantaged and disadvantaged?
When the general national rule on disclosure is applied, does it make any difference whether the information in question is contained in the national database or is information from or about reports contained in other documents, for example, policy documents?
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1 Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the reporting, analysis and follow-up of occurrences in civil aviation, amending Regulation (EU) No 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Directive 2003/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulations (EC) No 1321/2007 and (EC) No 1330/2007 (OJ 2014 L 122, p. 18).