Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:C:2024:437
Date: 2024-05-30
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Subject matter: State aids;Competition
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - unfounded
Origin: Ireland

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT 16 July 2021 (*) (Appeal – Intervention – Confidentiality – Information treated as confidential at first instance) In Case C‑353/21 P, APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 4 June 2021, Ryanair DAC, established in Swords (Ireland), represented by V. Blanc, E. Vahida and F.‑C. Laprévote, avocats, S. Rating, abogado, and I.‑G. Metaxas-Maranghidis, dikigoros, appellant, the other parties to the proceedings being: European Commission, defendant at first instance, Kingdom of Spain, French Republic, Republic of Finland, interveners at first instance, THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT, having regard to the proposal of S. Rodin, Judge-Rapporteur, after hearing the Advocate General, G. Pitruzzella, makes the following Order 1 By its appeal, Ryanair DAC seeks to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 14 April 2021, Ryanair v Commission (Finnair I; COVID-19) (T‑388/20, EU:T:2021:196), by which the General Court dismissed its application under Article 263 TFEU for annulment of Commission Decision C(2020) 3387 final of 18 May 2020 on State aid SA.56809 (2020/N) – Finland – COVID-19: State loan guarantee for Finnair. 2 By document lodged at the Court Registry on 4 June 2021, Ryanair requests that the Court grant confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic and the Republic of Finland, interveners at first instance, in respect of information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 21 of the abridged version of its application at first instance, which is annexed to its appeal (Annex P. 2). To that end, Ryanair submits a non-confidential version of that application as an annex to its request to the Court for confidential treatment. 3 Confidential treatment had already been granted on a provisional basis vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic and the Republic of Finland, in respect of the information which is the subject of the present request, in connection with the proceedings at first instance, by order of the President of the Tenth Chamber (Extended Composition) of the General Court of 14 October 2020, and, since those three Member States did not raise any objections to that confidential treatment, it was granted on a final basis by the judgment of the General Court of 14 April 2021, Ryanair v Commission (Finnair I; COVID-19) (T‑388/20, EU:T:2021:196). 4 Article 171(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice provides that the appeal is to be served on the other parties to the relevant case before the General Court. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 172 of the Rules of Procedure, any party to the relevant case before the General Court having an interest in the appeal being allowed or dismissed may submit a response within two months after service of the appeal on that party. It follows from those provisions that the appeal, and the other procedural documents lodged before the Court of Justice, are also to be served, in principle, on the parties given leave to intervene before the General Court. 5 However, where a party is requesting, vis-à-vis parties who intervened before the General Court, confidential treatment in respect of material produced before the Court of Justice which has already been treated as confidential in relation to those same parties in the proceedings at first instance, the same confidential treatment must, in principle, be maintained for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court of Justice (order of the President of the Court of 13 December 2016, Lundbeck v Commission, C‑591/16 P, not published, EU:C:2016:967, paragraph 5). 6 It follows from the foregoing that Ryanair’s request for confidential treatment, vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic and the Republic of Finland, in respect of the information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 21 of the abridged version of its application at first instance, annexed to its appeal (Annex P.2), must be granted. Only the non-confidential version of that application, redacting that information in that paragraph, will be served by the Registrar on those three Member States. On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders: 1. Confidential treatment is granted, vis-à-vis the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic and the Republic of Finland, in respect of the information relating to the number of passengers and the number of reservations, as set out in paragraph 21 of the abridged version of the application at first instance, annexed to Ryanair DAC’s appeal (Annex P. 2), which had already been granted confidential treatment in the case giving rise to the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 14 April 2021, Ryanair v Commission (Finnair I; COVID-19) (T‑388/20, EU:T:2021:196), and only a non-confidential version of that application, redacting that information in that paragraph, shall be served by the Registrar on those three Member States. 2. The costs are reserved. Luxembourg, 16 July 2021. A. Calot Escobar K. Lenaerts Registrar President * Language of the case: English.