Access to administrative documents

EU citizens or residents as well as legal persons within the EU can request access to the administrative documents held by the Court of Justice of the European Union. These requests must comply with specific rules. When deciding whether or not to grant access to these documents, the Court will consider factors such as the privacy of the people involved, public interest as well as commercial interests.

This page concerns access to documents held by the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to its administrative functions.

It does not concern documents relating to the cases before the Court. All publicly available information and documents relating to cases can be accessed in the case-law database on the Court’s website.

Texts governing procedures can be found in the “Case Procedure” section of this website for both the Court of Justice and the General Court.

Equally, the access to documents procedure should not be used for requests for information. If you have an information request, please contact us via our contact form.

The rules concerning public access to administrative documents were adopted by a decision of 26 November 2019 under Article 15(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Under these rules, any EU citizen or resident as well as any legal person within the EU has a right of access to documents created by, received by and possessed by the Court as part of its administrative functions. This is subject to conditions set out in the decision.

How to request access to an administrative document

To request access to an administrative document, you should complete an application form. This can be done either online to be sent electronically, or as a PDF file to be printed and sent by post or email.

Your application

  • should be written in an official EU language
  • should indicate your name and address
  • should be precise and include enough detail to enable the Court to identify the document or documents that you are requesting
  • should include the language in which you would like the document, as well as an alternative in case your first choice is unavailable

The documents can only be supplied in existing languages and formats – the Court will not create a new document, translate a document, or gather information in order to reply to your application.

As soon as the Court receives your application, you will receive an acknowledgement with a registration number. The Court will deal with your application within one month at the most. This period may be extended under conditions laid down in the decision.

My application has been denied

The Court may refuse access to a document for a number of reasons, including where releasing it could undermine, namely:

  • the protection of public interest;
  • the privacy and integrity of an individual involved;
  • commercial interests;
  • Court proceedings;
  • legal advice; or
  • the Courts’ decision-making process.

If your application is denied, or if you do not receive a reply within the period set out in the decision, you can make a confirmatory application to the Court within a month. You should

  • use the same application form
  • state that this is a confirmatory application
  • give the registration number sent to you with the acknowledgement of your initial application

Data protection

The processing of any personal data entered on the application form is subject to the protection policies that were established by EU Regulation 2018/1725.

For more information on data protection, see our data protection policy.

See also