Case T‑669/11

Darius Nicolai Spirlea

and

Mihaela Spirlea

v

European Commission

‛Access to documents — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Document originating from Germany in the context of an EU Pilot procedure — Article 4, paragraphs 4 and 5 — Article 4, paragraph 2, third indent — Refusal of access — Infringement of essential procedural requirements — Obligation to carry out a specific, individual examination — Partial access — Overriding public interest’

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber), 25 September 2014

Institutions of the European Union — 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 — Obligation on the institution not to disclose them without prior agreement (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(5))

Institutions of the European Union — 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 — Scope (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1) to (3) and (5))

Institutions of the European Union — 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 give reasons for a decision refusing access — Scope (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1) to (3))

Institutions of the European Union — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Documents originating from a Member State — Concept (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(5))

Institutions of the European Union — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Documents originating from a Member State — No obligation to carry out a specific and individual examination (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1) to (3) and (5))

Institutions of the European Union — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Protection of the objectives of inspection, investigation and audit activities — Overriding public interest justifying the disclosure of documents — Concept — Burden of proof (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2))

Institutions of the European Union — Right of public access to documents — Regulation No 1049/2001 — Exceptions to the right of access to documents — Overriding public interest justifying the disclosure of documents — Concept — Pursuit of a non-contractual action — Not included — Private nature of such an interest (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1049/2001, Art. 4(2))

Actions for annulment — Review of legality — Criteria — Account taken only of the factual and legal elements existing at the date on which the contested measure was adopted (Art. 263 TFEU)

Judicial proceedings — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Identification of the subject-matter of the dispute — Brief summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based — Abstract statement — Inadmissibility (Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 21 and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 44(1)(c))