Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2003:371
Date: 2003-06-26
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Environment
Concepts: Environment;Defences
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - successful;Action for failure to fulfil obligations - unfounded
Origin: France

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — 'Infor­
mation relating to the environment' — Definition — Documents which are not 
related to carrying out a public service — Whether included 
(Council Directive 90/313, Art. 2(a)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-233/00 
2. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Grounds 
which may justify a refusal to supply information relating to the environment — 
Exceptions — Strict interpretation 
(Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(2) and (3)) 
3. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Examination of the merits by the Court — 
Absence of adverse effects of alleged failure — Irrelevant 
(Art. 226 EC) 
4. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Member 
States allowed to refuse to grant a request for information in certain specified cases — 
Transposition without legislative action — Conditions — Existence of a general legal 
context ensuring full implementation of the directive 
(Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(3)) 
5. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Implied 
decision refusing a request for information relating to the environment — Obligation 
of public authority automatically to provide the reasons for refusal — Time-limit 
(Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(4)) 
1. In the light of its actual wording and 
taking account, in particular, of the use 
of the words 'any... information', the 
scope of application of Article 2(a) of 
Directive 90/313 on the freedom of 
access to information on the environ­
ment and, consequently, that of the 
directive, must be considered to have 
been intended to be wide. It thus covers 
all information which relates either to 
the state of the environment or to 
activities or measures which could 
affect it, or to activities or measures 
intended to protect the environment, 
without the list in that provision 
including any indication such as to 
restrict its scope, so that 'information 
relating to the environment' within the 
meaning of Directive 90/313 must be 
understood to include documents 
which are not related to carrying out 
a public service. 
(see paras 44, 47) 
2. As exceptions to the principle of sup­
plying information relating to the 
environment, which forms the purpose 
of Directive 90/313 on the freedom of 
access to information on the environ­
ment, the grounds which may justify a 
refusal to supply such information 
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must be interpreted strictly, so that it is 
appropriate to consider that the dero­
gations set out in Article 3(2) and (3) of 
that directive are the subject of an 
exhaustive list and refer to 'certain 
specific and clearly defined cases' in 
which 'it may be justified to refuse a 
request for information relating to the 
environment'. 
A domestic provision authorising pub­
lic authorities to refuse to allow con­
sultation of or to provide an adminis­
trative document whose dissemination 
would prejudice, 'generally, secrets 
protected by legislation', a ground for 
refusal which is not mentioned in the 
exhaustive list of exceptions in the first 
subparagraph of Article 3(2) of Direc­
tive 90/313, therefore clearly exceeds 
the scope of those exceptions. 
(see paras 57, 59-60) 
3. As failure to comply with an obligation 
imposed by a rule of Community law is 
itself sufficient to constitute the breach, 
the fact that such a failure had no 
adverse effects is irrelevant. 
(see para. 62) 
4. A general legal context, which finds 
expression in the case in point in the 
existence of concepts whose content is 
clear and precise and which are applied 
in the framework of settled domestic 
case-law must be held to be sufficient 
for the purpose of properly transposing 
Article 3(3) of Directive 90/313 on the 
freedom of access to information on 
the environment which allows the 
competent authorities to refuse a 
request for information which is 
unreasonable or formulated in too 
general a manner or relates to unfin­
ished or internal documents or data. 
As regards a provision such as 
Article 3(3), the requirement for spe­
cific transposition would be of very 
little practical use since that provision 
is drafted in very general terms and sets 
out rules which are in the nature of 
general principles common to the legal 
systems of the Member States. Com­
pliance with a provision of a directive 
which exhibits those characteristics 
must thus be essentially ensured when 
it is applied in practice to a specific 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-233/00 
situation, regardless of whether it is 
transposed into national law in pre­
cisely the same words. 
(see paras 81-83) 
5. Article 3(4) of Directive 90/313 on the 
freedom of access to information on 
the environment requires the public 
authority automatically to provide the 
reasons for its refusing a request for 
information relating to the environ­
ment, without the applicant having to 
submit a request for that purpose, even 
if, where the authorities fail to reply, 
those reasons may be notified to the 
applicant at a later date. The reasons 
must be notified within two months of 
the submission of the initial request, 
since that notification must, in that 
situation, be regarded as a 'response' 
for the purposes of that provision. 
(see paras 115, 118) 
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