Case T-761/21: Judgment of the General Court of 17 July 2024 – Courtois and Others v Commission (Access to documents – Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 – Documents relating to the purchase of vaccines by the Commission in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – Partial refusal of access – Exception relating to the protection of personal data – Exception relating to the protection of the commercial interests of a third party – Obligation to state reasons – Existence of a foreseeable and not purely hypothetical risk of the interest relied on being undermined – Principle of proportionality)
Date: 2024-07-17
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: access to EU information, contract, coronavirus disease, personal data, principle of proportionality, purchase, vaccine








C_202405231EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5231


2.9.2024






Judgment of the General Court of 17 July 2024 – Courtois and Others v Commission


(Case T-761/21)
                (1)

(Access to documents - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Documents relating to the purchase of vaccines by the Commission in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic - Partial refusal of access - Exception relating to the protection of personal data - Exception relating to the protection of the commercial interests of a third party - Obligation to state reasons - Existence of a foreseeable and not purely hypothetical risk of the interest relied on being undermined - Principle of proportionality)
(C/2024/5231)
Language of the case: French

Parties


Applicants: Fabien Courtois (Rueil-Malmaison, France) and the 2 088 other applicants whose names are set out in the annex to the judgment (represented by: A. Durand and T. Saint-Martin, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: C. Ehrbar, G. Gattinara and A. Spina, acting as Agents)

Re:

By their action based on Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek the annulment of Decision C(2022) 1359 final of the European Commission of 28 February 2022, adopted pursuant to Article 4 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 (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43), and granting them partial access to certain documents relating to the purchase of vaccines by that institution in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the French version of that decision, communicated on 31 March 2022.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Declares that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the head of claim seeking annulment of the implicit decision of the European Commission of 24 September 2021 rejecting the confirmatory application for access to documents;










2.


Annuls Commission Decision C(2022) 1359 final of 28 February 2022, which was adopted pursuant to Article 4 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, and which granted Mr Fabien Courtois and the other natural persons whose names are set out in the annex partial access to certain documents relating to the purchase of vaccines by that institution in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and annuls the French version of that decision, which was communicated on 31 March 2022 to Mr Courtois and to the other applicants whose names are set out in the annex, in so far as the Commission refused wider access (i) to the declarations by the members of the joint team who negotiated the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines that they had no conflict of interests, such refusal being based on Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation No 1049/2001, and (ii) to the provisions on indemnification in the advance purchase agreements and purchase agreements concluded between the Commission and the relevant pharmaceutical companies for the purchase of those vaccines, such refusal being based on the first indent of Article 4(2) of that regulation;










3.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










4.


Orders the Commission to pay the costs, including the costs relating to the initial version of the application initiating proceedings.






(1)  
            OJ C 51, 31.1.2022.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5231/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)