62023TJ0110_INF
Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber) of 13 November 2024 –Kargins v Commission
(Case T-110/23) (
1
)
(Access to documents – Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 – Documents originating from a Member State – Documents relating to the Commission’s intervention in a dispute before the Supreme Court of Latvia – List of documents covered by the application for access to documents – Partial refusal of access – Objection by a Member State to disclosure of documents – Exception relating to the protection of court proceedings – Obligation to state reasons – Presumption of legality attaching to EU measures – Review by the institution and by the EU Courts of the Member State’s grounds for objection – Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – Time limits provided for in Regulation No 1049/2001)
1.
EU institutions – Right of public access to documents – Regulation No 1049/2001 – Exceptions to the right of access to documents – Strict interpretation and application – Distinction between document and information – Requirement that the institution should examine the documents specifically and individually – Obligation for the institution to reply to any request for information from an individual – None
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2))
(see paragraph 44)
2.
EU institutions – Right of public access to documents – Regulation No 1049/2001 – Refusal of access to a document on the ground that it does not exist or is not held by the institution concerned – Obligation for the institution to draw up and preserve documentation relating to its activities – Scope – Obligation to preserve internal communications and draft amicus curiae letters – None – Condition – Final version of that letter kept
(Art. 15 TFEU; Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001)
(see paragraph 54)
3.
EU institutions – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation 2018/1725 – Request for access to personal data – Obligation to establish the need to transfer those data – Scope – Verification by the institution concerned – Criteria for assessment – Raising by the applicant of general objectives of openness – Rejection
(European Parliament and Council Regulations No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1)(b) and 2018/1725, Art. 9(1)(b))
(see paragraphs 71-78, 85, 86)
4.
EU institutions – Right of public access to documents – Regulation No 1049/2001 – Exceptions to the right of access to documents – Documents originating from a Member State – Power of the Member State to request the institution not to disclose documents – Procedural implications – Obligation on the Member State and the EU institution to state reasons for the decision refusing access – Scope – Review by the institution concerned of the merits of the grounds for refusal of disclosure relied on by the Member State – Limits
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Arts 4(1) to (3) and (5), and 8)
(see paragraphs 95-98, 100-102, 106, 109, 111, 131-133)
5.
EU institutions – Right of public access to documents – Regulation No 1049/2001 – Exceptions to the right of access to documents – Protection of court proceedings – Scope – Refusal to disclose documents forming part of a judicial case file – Limits
(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2), second indent)
(see paragraphs 116, 121, 123-127)
6.
Fundamental rights – Charter of Fundamental Rights – Right to good administration – Right of access of any person to the file concerning him – Scope – National judicial proceedings – Commission intervention in those proceedings as amicus curiae – Not included
(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(2))
(see paragraphs 140, 141)
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Annuls Decision C(2022) 9584 final of the European Commission of 12 December 2022 in so far as it refused access, on the basis of the second indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, to documents 7.2 to 7.7, 7.10 and 7.11, 7.14 to 7.17, 7.20 and 7.21, as identified in Section 2.2 of that decision;
2.
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
3.
Orders each party, Mr Rems Kargins and the Commission, to bear their own costs.
(
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)	OJ C 173, 15.5.2023.