Case T-498/14: Judgment of the General Court of 12 December 2018 — Deutsche Umwelthilfe v Commission (Access to documents — Documents related to correspondence between the European Commission and car manufacturers concerning refrigerant R1234yf used in motor vehicles — Documents not included — New plea put forward in the course of the proceedings — Inadmissibility — Measure of inquiry ordering the production of the contested documents in accordance with Article 104 of the Rules of Procedure — Derogation to the principle of adversarial proceedings — Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 — Exception relating to the protection of commercial interests — Public interest in disclosure — Balance — Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 — Article 6(1) — Overriding public interest justifying disclosure of the environmental information or relating to emissions into the environment — General proposition — Partial refusal to grant access — No need to adjudicate)
Date: 2018-12-12
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: access to EU information, admissibility, air quality, chemical product, environmental protection, motor vehicle, motor vehicle industry, toxic substance








C_2019082EN.01002302.xml










4.3.2019   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 82/23






Judgment of the General Court of 12 December 2018 — Deutsche Umwelthilfe v Commission
(Case T-498/14) (1)

((Access to documents - Documents related to correspondence between the European Commission and car manufacturers concerning refrigerant R1234yf used in motor vehicles - Documents not included - New plea put forward in the course of the proceedings - Inadmissibility - Measure of inquiry ordering the production of the contested documents in accordance with Article 104 of the Rules of Procedure - Derogation to the principle of adversarial proceedings - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Exception relating to the protection of commercial interests - Public interest in disclosure - Balance - Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 - Article 6(1) - Overriding public interest justifying disclosure of the environmental information or relating to emissions into the environment - General proposition - Partial refusal to grant access - No need to adjudicate))
(2019/C 82/25)
Language of the case: German

Parties


Applicant: Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV (Radolfzell, Germany) (represented by: R. Klinger and R. Geulen, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: initially F. Clotuche-Duvieusart and J. Vondung, then F. Clotuche-Duvieusart and H. Krämer, acting as Agents, in cooperation initially with R. van der Hout and A. Köhler, then R. van der Hout and C. Wagner, lawyers)

Re:

Application on the basis of Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment in part of Commission Decision GESTDEM 2014/547 of 2 June 2014, confirming the refusal to grant access to all the documents related to correspondence between the European Commission, on the one hand, and the undertakings Honeywell et DuPont or car manufacturers, on the other hand, during the period from September 2011 until April 2012 and from September 2012 until the end of January 2014, concerning refrigerant R1234yf used in motor vehicles.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Rules that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the application for annulment in part of Commission Decision GESTDEM 2014/547 of 2 June 2014, in so far as it concerns the initially redacted parts of document No 34 which, subsequently, were made public;










2.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










3.


Orders Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV to pay the costs.






(1)  OJ C 329, 22.9.2014.