# C_2015389EN.01000602.xml

| 23.11.2015 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 389/6 |
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23.11.2015

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 389/6

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Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 6 October 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) — United Kingdom) — East Sussex County Council v Information Commissioner

(Case C-71/14) (1)

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((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Aarhus Convention - Directive 2003/4/EC - Articles 5 and 6 - Public access to environmental information - Charge for supplying environmental information - Reasonable amount - Costs of maintaining a database and overheads - Access to justice - Administrative and judicial review of a decision imposing a charge))

(2015/C 389/07)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Referring court

First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights)

Parties to the main proceedings

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: East Sussex County Council

Applicant:

Defendant: Information Commissioner

Defendant:

Other parties: Property Search Group, Local Government Association

Other parties:

Operative part of the judgment

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | Article 5(2) of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC must be interpreted as meaning that the charge for supplying a particular type of environmental information may not include any part of the cost of maintaining a database, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, used for that purpose by the public authority, but may include the overheads attributable to the time spent by the staff of the public authority on answering individual requests for information, properly taken into account in fixing the charge, provided that the total amount of the charge does not exceed a reasonable amount. |
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1.

Article 5(2) of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information and repealing Council Directive 90/313/EEC must be interpreted as meaning that the charge for supplying a particular type of environmental information may not include any part of the cost of maintaining a database, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, used for that purpose by the public authority, but may include the overheads attributable to the time spent by the staff of the public authority on answering individual requests for information, properly taken into account in fixing the charge, provided that the total amount of the charge does not exceed a reasonable amount.

| 2. | Article 6 of Directive 2003/4 must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which the reasonableness of a charge for supplying a particular type of environmental information is the subject only of limited administrative and judicial review as provided for in English law, provided that the review is carried out on the basis of objective elements and, in accordance with the principles of equivalence and effectiveness, relates to the question whether the public authority making the charge has complied with the conditions in Article 5(2) of that directive, which is for the referring tribunal to ascertain. |
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2.

Article 6 of Directive 2003/4 must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation under which the reasonableness of a charge for supplying a particular type of environmental information is the subject only of limited administrative and judicial review as provided for in English law, provided that the review is carried out on the basis of objective elements and, in accordance with the principles of equivalence and effectiveness, relates to the question whether the public authority making the charge has complied with the conditions in Article 5(2) of that directive, which is for the referring tribunal to ascertain.

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(1)  OJ C 102, 7.4.2014.

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