Case C-406/06: Action brought on 1 September 2006 — Landtag Schleswig-Holstein v Commission of the European Communities
Date: 2006-12-02
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Commission, access to EU information, action for annulment (EU), data protection, drafting of EU law, legal basis, provision of documents

2.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 294/33

Action brought on 1 September 2006 — Landtag
the European
Schleswig-Holstein v Commission of

information in conjunction with Article 10 EC and Article
1(2) EC; and

Communities

(Case C-406/06)

(2006/C 294/57)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: Landtag Schleswig-Holstein (represented by: S.
Laskowski and J. Caspar, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

— declare that the Court of Justice has jurisdiction and that
the action is admissible; in the alternative, refer the action
to the Court of First Instance under the second paragraph
of Article 54 of the Statute of the Court of Justice (2005);

— annul the Commission decisions of 10 March 2006 (JUR
(2006) 55023) and of 23 June 2006 (SG/E/3MM/flD (2006)
6175);

— order the Commission of the European Communities to

pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant contests the Commission decision of 10 March
2006 and the decision of 23 June 2006 notified on 26 March
2006, each refusing the application of the Landtag Schleswig-
Holstein (assembly of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein) for full
access to internal Commission document SEC (2005) 420 of
22 March 2005. Document SEC (2005) 420 contains the legal
grounds for the choice of Article 95 EC as the legal basis for
Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated
or processed in connection with the provision of publicly avail-
able electronic communications services or of public communi-
cations networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC, (1) and
is referred to in the grounds of the Commission proposal for
the directive COM (2005) 438 final (p. 6). That document was
the Landtag of
requested by the science department of
Schleswig-Holstein for the preparation of a legal opinion on
the possible effects of Directive 2006/24/EC on parliamentary
privilege.

The applicant claims that the adverse decisions and the refusal
to grant full access to the document at issue are subject to the
following grounds for invalidity as provided for in the second
paragraph of Article 230 EC:

— breach of the duty to cooperate in good faith under Article
10 EC in conjunction with Article 1(2) EU or breach of the
right of access to the document under Article 255 EC and
Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on access to

— misuse of powers.

By virtue of Article 10 EC in conjunction with Article 1(2) EC,
the Commission is under an obligation to grant the Landtag of
Schleswig-Holstein, as an institution of a Member State, access
to the document sought, within the scope of the mutual duties
to cooperate in good faith and in compliance with the principle
of transparency, since there is strong public and parliamentary
interest in the full disclosure of the document.

In addition the right to full access to the document at issue is
based on Article 255 EC and Article 2(1) of Regulation No
1049/2001 on access to information in conjunction with
Article 10 EC and Article 1(2) EU, and the complaint is made
to grant
that
access to the document on the second indent of Article 4(2) of
Regulation No 1049/2001 and misused its powers, since
disclosure of the document would not undermine the protec-
tion of the Commission's legal advice.

the Commission incorrectly based its refusal

(1) OJ L 105 of 13.4.2006, p. 54.

Action brought on 9 October 2006 — Commission of the
European Communities v Portuguese Republic

(Case C-410/06)

(2006/C 294/58)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: N. Yerrell and G. Braga da Cruz, Agents)

Defendant: Portuguese Republic

Form of order sought

— a declaration that, by failing to adopt (all) the laws, regula-
tions and legislative provisions necessary to comply with
Directive 2002/15/EC (1) of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 11 March 2002 on the organisation of the
working time of persons performing mobile road transport
activities or, in any event, by failing to communicate those
provisions to the Commission, the Portuguese Republic has
failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 14 of that direc-
tive;

— an order that the Portuguese Republic should pay the costs.