Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2002:167
Date: 2002-06-25
Language of the case: English
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Provisions governing the Institutions;Approximation of laws;Access to documents
Concepts: General;Measures of inquiry and measures of organisation of procedure;Contentious procedure
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - decision unnecessary
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Actions for annulment — Actionable measures — Definition — Measures producing 
binding legal effects 
(Art. 230 EC; Commission Decision 94/90) 
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SUMMARY — CASE T-311/00 
2. Commission — Right of public access to Commission documents — Decision 
94/90 — Exceptions to the principle of access to documents — Whether documents 
to which access has been sought exist — Presumption that they do not based on 
assertion to that effect by institution concerned — Simple presumption which may be 
rebutted by relevant and consistent evidence 
(Commission Decision 94/90) 
3. Procedure — Request that the oral procedure be reopened — Conditions for 
admissibility 
(Rules of Procedure of the Court of First Instance, Art. 62) 
1. Only a measure whose legal effects are 
binding on the applicant and are 
capable of affecting his interests is an 
act or decision which may be the 
subject of an action for annulment 
under Article 230 EC. 
A letter of the Secretary General of the 
Commission indicating, in essence, that 
the documents requested by the appli­
cants are not in the Commission's 
possession or do not exist amounts to 
a refusal to grant access and thus 
affects the applicant's interests. 
Irrespective of whether or not the 
Commission is required to grant access 
to the requested documents in accord­
ance with Decision 94/90 on public 
access to Commission documents, it 
nevertheless remains the case that such 
a letter constitutes a negative decision 
and that that decision is actionable. 
(see paras 30-32) 
2. Decision 94/90 on public access to 
Commission documents is a measure 
conferring on citizens a right of access 
to documents held by the Commission. 
Clearly, however, the Commission can­
not accede to a request for access to 
documents which do not exist. In 
accordance with the presumption of 
legality attaching to Community acts, 
where the institution concerned asserts 
that a particular document to which 
access has been sought does not exist, 
there is a presumption that it does not. 
That, however, is a simple presumption 
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BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO (INVESTMENTS) v COMMISSION 
that the applicant may rebut in any 
way by relevant and consistent evi­
dence. 
(see para. 35) 
3. The Court of First Instance is required 
to accede to a request to reopen the 
oral procedure so that account may be 
taken of new facts only if the party 
concerned wishes to place before it 
facts which may have a decisive 
influence on the outcome of the case 
and which it was unable to put forward 
before the close of the oral procedure. 
(see paras 52-53) 
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