Transparency Policy

Transparency is one of the principal values of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is also a fundamental principle of the EU, ensuring openness and public access to information. The Court of Justice of the European Union makes details about all cases available in the case-law database on its website. Strict transparency rules also apply to the Court’s administrative services and the Court’s Members.

Transparency is enshrined in Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which says that EU institutions are obliged to work as openly as possible.

Article 15 also ensures that, subject to certain conditions, all EU citizens have the right to access documents from the EU institutions. The Court of Justice of the European Union also takes account of this principle and has adopted a decision which sets out the rules for public access to its administrative documents.

The Court aims to make as much information as possible available through this site.

Cases

The Court’s judicial work is not covered by EU rules on transparency and access to documents. However, this does not mean that the Court operates in secret.

The Court is dedicated to maintaining a high level of transparency in carrying out its work. It aims to make available as much information about each case as possible.

As a general rule, all publicly available information about a case can be found in the case-law database. This includes

  • information about the case itself, such as the identifying case number, the case name, the date on which the application was lodged and the language of the case
  • requests for preliminary rulings made after 1 July 2018
  • notices of applications, including the main arguments
  • observations and submissions from parties and Member States made during preliminary ruling cases (available after the case is closed, unless the author objects)
  • opinions
  • orders
  • judgments

In addition, Court hearings are normally public events. The more important hearings of the Court of Justice are streamed on our website and available to watch for 1 month after the hearing.

For more information about how to follow cases, see our page about public information on cases.

Members of the Court

Information about Judges, Advocates General and Registrars of the Court, known as the Court’s “Members”, is also subject to certain transparency requirements. These are set out in the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The CV of each Member can be found in the Members’ section of the Court’s website.

Additional information about Members is also made available, including

  • a financial declaration listing each Members’ financial holdings
  • the external activities of each Member, including the cost to the Court of each activity

For more information, see our page on Ethics.

Access to administrative documents

The Court takes account of EU rules on access to documents as regards its administrative functions. The Court’s administrative work is any work which does not directly relate to a case.

The Court has adopted a decision which sets out the rules for public access to these documents.

More information about this and details of how to make a request for access to administrative documents can be found on our page on Accès aux documents administratifs.

Historical archives

Special rules are in place concerning documents that are more than 30 years old.

The Court’s historical archive is managed by the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. For more information about this see our page on Historical Archives.