Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 20 September 2016 — PAN Europe v Commission

(Case T‑51/15)

(Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 — Documents relating to endocrine-disrupting chemicals — Partial refusal of access — Exception relating to the decision-making process — Article 4(3) of Regulation No 1049/2001)

1.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the decision-making process — Conditions — Concrete, actual and serious detriment to that process — Refusal based on the need to protect the process against external pressures — Lawfulness — Conditions — Account taken of the freedom of expression of the services of the institution concerned — Exclusion (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2) and (3), first para.) (see paras 21-25, 30, 34, 42)

2.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the decision-making process — Conditions — Concrete, actual and serious detriment to that process — Scope — Sensitivity of the information sought — Not in itself capable of warranting application of the exception (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(3), first para.) (see para. 34)

3.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the decision-making process — Conditions — Concrete, actual and serious detriment to that process — Scope — Refusal based on loss of the institution concerned’s margin for manoeuvre and its capacity to obtain an internal compromise — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(3), first para.) (see para. 36)

4.                     EU institutions — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the decision-making process — Possibility of requesting internal documents containing preliminary analyses (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(3), first para.) (see para. 41)

Re:

APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of the Commission’s Decision of 24 November 2014, under the reference Ares (2014) 3900631, in so far as it refuses access to documents relating to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the decision of the European Commission of 24 November 2014, under the reference Ares (2014) 3900631, in so far as it refuses access to the documents designated under numbers 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17a, 20, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42 and 43, on the basis of the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) 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;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders the Commission, in addition to bearing its own costs, to pay those incurred by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe);

4. Orders that the Kingdom of Sweden to pay its own costs.