ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT
14 June 2024 (*)
(Appeal – Intervention – Confidentiality – Information treated as confidential at first instance)
In Case C‑496/23 P,
APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 3 August 2023,
Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, formerly Facebook Ireland Ltd, established in Dublin (Ireland), represented by D. Jowell, KC, D. Bailey, Barrister, J. Aitken, D. Das, R. Haria, S. Malhi, Solicitors, and T. Oeyen, avocat,
appellant,
the other parties to the proceedings being:
European Commission, represented by G. Conte, C. Urraca Caviedes and C. Sjödin, acting as Agents,
defendant at first instance,
Federal Republic of Germany,
intervener at first instance,
THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,
having regard to the proposal of Z. Csehi, Judge-Rapporteur,
after hearing the Advocate General, A. Rantos,
makes the following
Order
1 By its appeal, Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, formerly Facebook Ireland Ltd, seeks to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 24 May 2023, Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission (T‑452/20, ‘the judgment under appeal’, EU:T:2023:277), by which the General Court dismissed its application under Article 263 TFEU for the annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 3013 final of 4 May 2020 relating to a proceeding under Article 18(3) and to Article 24(1)(d) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 (Case AT.40684 – Facebook Marketplace), as amended by Commission Decision C(2020) 9229 final of 11 December 2020.
2 By order of the President of the Court of 15 December 2023, Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission (C‑496/23 P, EU:C:2023:1001), it was ordered that confidential treatment be granted, vis-à-vis the Federal Republic of Germany, intervener at first instance, in respect of certain information set out in paragraphs 35 and 55 of the appeal, in the description of Annexes F.16 and F.18 thereto, together with Annexes F.1 to F.2.1, F.4, F.5, F.6.1, F.7.1 to F.10.1, F.12 to F.20 and F.22 to F.24 to that appeal, in respect of which confidential treatment had already been granted in the context of the case giving rise to the judgment under appeal; only a non-confidential version of that appeal and the annexes thereto, redacting that information, was to be served by the Registrar on the Federal Republic of Germany.
3 On 29 February 2024, the European Commission lodged its response at the Registry of the Court of Justice.
4 By document lodged at the Court Registry on 6 March 2024, Meta Platforms Ireland requested that the Court grant confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the Federal Republic of Germany, in respect of certain information contained in paragraph 36 of that response. At the same time as that request for confidential treatment, Meta Platforms Ireland sent the Court Registry a non-confidential version of that response.
5 By letter lodged at the Court Registry on 12 March 2024, the Commission confirmed that that non-confidential version could be notified to the Federal Republic of Germany.
6 Similar confidential treatment had already been granted on a provisional basis, vis-à-vis the Federal Republic of Germany, in respect of the information referred to in the request which is the subject of the present order, in the proceedings at first instance, by order of the President of the Fifth Chamber of the General Court of 21 December 2020, subject to the possibility for that party to object to that confidential treatment. Since no objection was raised in that regard, according to the file sent by the General Court to the Court of Justice, the grant of confidential treatment, ordered on a provisional basis by the General Court in the latter order, became final on 8 February 2021.
7 In that regard, 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. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 172 of the Rules of Procedure, 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.
8 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 16 July 2021, Ryanair v Commission, C‑321/21 P, EU:C:2021:636, paragraph 5 and the case-law cited).
9 In the present case, it should be noted that the request for confidential treatment of the response lodged by the Commission relates to material which had been omitted from the public version of the judgment under appeal, notified to the Federal Republic of Germany.
10 It is therefore necessary to grant the request made by Meta Platforms Ireland that the Court grant confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the Federal Republic of Germany, intervener at first instance, in respect of the information contained in paragraph 36 of the response lodged at the Court Registry on 29 February 2024 by the Commission, in respect of which confidential treatment has already been granted in the case giving rise to the judgment under appeal; only a non-confidential version of that response, redacting that information, is to be served by the Registrar on the Federal Republic of Germany.
On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:
1. Confidential treatment is granted, vis-a-vis the Federal Republic of Germany, intervener at first instance, in respect of the information contained in paragraph 36 of the response lodged at the Court Registry on 29 February 2024 by the European Commission, in respect of which confidential treatment has already been granted in the case giving rise to the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 24 May 2023, Meta Platforms Ireland v Commission (T‑452/20, EU:T:2023:277); only a non-confidential version of that response, redacting that information, shall be served by the Registrar on the Federal Republic of Germany.
2. The costs are reserved.
Luxembourg, 14 June 2024.
A. Calot Escobar | | K. Lenaerts |