Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2001:250
Date: 2001-10-10
Language of the case: English
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Provisions governing the Institutions;Access to documents
Concepts: Admissibility and examination of applications, forms of order sought and pleas in law;Prior balancing of the interests at stake;Linked institutions and bodies;Strict interpretation and application;Protection of the decision-making process
Procedure: Action for annulment - successful
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Procedure — Decision replacing, during the proceedings, the contested decision — 
New factor — Extension of the initial claims and pleadings 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-111/00 
2. Commission — Public right of access to Commission documents — Decision 
94/90 — Exceptions to the principle of access to documents — Protection of an 
institution's interest in the confidentiality of its proceedings — Right of the 
Commission to claim confidentiality for the minutes of the Committee on Excise 
Duties 
(Commission Decision 94/90) 
3. Commission — Public right of access to Commission documents — Decision 
94/90 — Exceptions to the principle of access to documents — Strict interpretation 
and application — Protection of an institution's interest in the confidentiality of its 
proceedings — Duty to balance relevant interests — Scope 
(Commission Decision 94/90) 
1. Heads of claim directed against a 
decision which is replaced during the 
course of proceedings may be regarded 
as being directed against the replace­
ment decision because the latter deci­
sion constitutes a new factor which 
entitles the applicant to amend its 
heads of claim and pleas in law. It 
would, in fact, not be in the interests of 
the administration of justice and would 
be contrary to the requirement of 
procedural economy to oblige the 
applicant, in such an eventuality, to 
make a fresh application to the Court. 
(see para. 22) 
2. The deliberations of the Committee on 
Excise Duties, and the documents of 
that committee, are to be regarded as 
being the deliberations and documents 
of the Commission. The main task of 
the committee, which was constituted 
in pursuance of a Community act, is to 
assist the Commission, which presides 
over it and provides its secretariat. The 
Commission thus draws up the minutes 
which the committee adopts. In addi­
tion, it appears that this committee 
does not have its own administration, 
budget, archives or premises, still less 
an address of its own. Consequently, 
the committee is not a natural or legal 
person, nor a Member State or any 
other national or international body, 
and cannot be regarded as another 
'Community institution or body' 
within the meaning of the code of 
conduct adopted by Decision 94/90 
on public access to Commission docu­
ments. 
Given that the Committee on Excise 
Duties is thus to be regarded as part of 
the Commission, the Commission is 
entitled to rely upon the exception 
relating to the protection of the con­
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BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL (INVESTMENTS) v COMMISSION 
fidentiality of its deliberations where 
the documents to which access has 
been requested concern the delibera­
tions of that committee. 
(see paras 37-38) 
3. Any exception to the right of access to 
documents covered by Decision 94/90 
on public access to Commission docu­
ments must be interpreted and applied 
strictly. The Commission nevertheless 
enjoys a margin of discretion in apply­
ing the non-mandatory exception relat­
ing to the confidentiality of its pro­
ceedings, albeit that in the exercise of 
that discretion it must strike a genuine 
balance between the interest of the 
citizen in obtaining access to its docu­
ments and its own interest in protecting 
the confidentiality of its deliberations. 
The code of conduct adopted by the 
Commission in Decision 94/90 cannot 
justify an institution's refusal, as a 
matter of principle, to grant access to 
documents pertaining to its delibera­
tions on the basis that they contain 
information relating to positions taken 
by representatives of the Member 
States, since that would fail to comply 
with the obligation to balance the 
interests involved. Furthermore, the 
interests at stake must be balanced on 
a case by case basis with account being 
taken of the content of the document in 
question. 
(see paras 40, 52-53) 
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