Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber), 25 September 2014

Darius Nicolai Spirlea and Mihaela Spirlea v European Commission

Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Article 4, paragraph 2, third indent — Requests for information sent by the Commission to Germany in the context of an EU Pilot procedure — Refusal of access — Obligation to carry out a specific, individual examination — Overriding public interest — Partial access — Obligation to state reasons

Case T‑306/12



Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
Judgment (OJ)
24/10/2014 Spirlea v Commission
Judgment
ECLI:EU:T:2014:816
25/09/2014 Spirlea v Commission
Judgment (Summary)
ECLI:EU:T:2014:816
25/09/2014 Spirlea v Commission
Application (OJ)
23/08/2012 Spirlea v Commission
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

published in the electronic Reports of Cases (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Annulment of the Commission’s decision of 21 June 2012 refusing to grant the applicants access to the information letters sent by the Commission to the Federal Republic of Germany on 10 May 2011 ad 10 October 2011 in the context of a procedure carried out by the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (pilot procedure 2070/11/SNCO)

Systematic classification scheme

1.
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.01 Principles
        2.03.02.01.03 Concrete, individual examination of the documents
          2.03.02.01.03.02 Exceptions to the obligation to carry out a concrete, individual examination
            2.03.02.01.03.02.02 General presumptions of confidentiality by reference to categories of documents
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.01 Principles
        2.03.02.01.03 Concrete, individual examination of the documents
          2.03.02.01.03.02 Exceptions to the obligation to carry out a concrete, individual examination
            2.03.02.01.03.02.02 General presumptions of confidentiality by reference to categories of documents
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.03 Relative exceptions
        2.03.02.03.05 Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits
          2.03.02.03.05.01 Infringement proceedings
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.05 Legal acts of the European Union
    2.05.00 General
3 Legal proceedings
  3.01 Actions for failure to fulfil obligations
    3.01.00 General
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.01 Principles
        2.03.02.01.03 Concrete, individual examination of the documents
          2.03.02.01.03.02 Exceptions to the obligation to carry out a concrete, individual examination
            2.03.02.01.03.02.02 General presumptions of confidentiality by reference to categories of documents
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.03 Relative exceptions
        2.03.02.03.05 Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits
          2.03.02.03.05.00 General
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.03 Relative exceptions
        2.03.02.03.01 Overriding public interest
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.03 Relative exceptions
        2.03.02.03.05 Protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits
          2.03.02.03.05.00 General
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.03 Relative exceptions
        2.03.02.03.01 Overriding public interest
3 Legal proceedings
  3.02 Actions for annulment
    3.02.00 General
3 Legal proceedings
  3.08 Procedural rules
    3.08.04 Subject-matter, form of order sought and pleas in law
      3.08.04.01 Formal requirements
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.02 Exceptions
      2.03.02.01 Principles
        2.03.02.01.02 Obligation to state reasons
2 Institutional framework of the European Union
  2.03 Right of public access to documents
    2.03.06 Contentious procedure
      2.03.06.00 General
3 Legal proceedings
  3.02 Actions for annulment
    3.02.04 Pleas in law
      3.02.04.01 Infringement of the Treaties


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Information not available

Opinion

Information not available


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

  • 10/07/2012

Date of the Opinion

Information not available

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

25/09/2014


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Judgment: OJ C 395 from 10.11.2014, p.38

Application: OJ C 273 from 08.09.2012, p.18

Name of the parties

Spirlea v Commission

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Dupont-Lassalle, Julie: Accès aux documents et procédure EU Pilot, Europe 2014 Novembre nº 11 p.10-11 (FR)
  2. Peraldi-Leneuf, Fabienne: Accès aux documents, Europe 2018 avril nº 4 p.14-15 (FR)
  3. Peraldi-Leneuf, Fabienne: Accès aux documents, Europe 2018 avril nº 4 p.15-17 (FR)
  4. Peraldi-Leneuf, Fabienne: Accès aux documents, Europe 2018 avril nº 4 p.17-18 (FR)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Information not available

Subject-matter

  • Provisions governing the institutions
  • - Access to documents

Provisions of national law referred to

Information not available

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Actions for annulment : dismissal on substantive grounds
  • Actions for annulment : dismissal on grounds of inadmissibility

Formation of the Court

huitième chambre (Tribunal)

Judge-Rapporteur

Kancheva

Advocate General

Information not available

Language(s) of the Case

  • German

Language(s) of the Opinion

    Information not available