Case T-689/21: Judgment of the General Court of 17 July 2024 – Auken and Others v Commission (Access to documents – Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 – Advance purchase agreements and purchase agreements concluded between the Commission and pharmaceutical companies for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines – Partial refusal of access – 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 good administration – Freedom of expression)
Date: 2024-07-17
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: access to EU information, contract, coronavirus disease, freedom of expression, purchase, vaccine








C_202405230EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/5230


2.9.2024






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


(Case T-689/21)
                (1)

(Access to documents - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Advance purchase agreements and purchase agreements concluded between the Commission and pharmaceutical companies for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines - Partial refusal of access - 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 good administration - Freedom of expression)
(C/2024/5230)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicants: Margrete Auken, Tilly Metz, Jutta Paulus, Emilie Mosnier, as heir of Michèle Rivasi, Kimberly van Sparrentak (represented by: B. Kloostra, lawyer)

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

Re:

By their action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek the annulment of Decision C(2022) 1038 final of the European Commission of 15 February 2022, taken 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), granting them partial access to the advance purchase agreements and purchase agreements for COVID-19 vaccines concluded between the Commission and the pharmaceutical undertakings concerned.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Annuls Decision C(2022) 1038 final of the European Commission of 15 February 2022 in so far as the Commission refused wider access, first, to the definitions of the expressions ‘wilful misconduct’ in the advance purchase agreement concluded between it and AstraZeneca and ‘best reasonable efforts’ in the advance purchase agreement concluded between the Commission and Pfizer-BioNTech and in the purchase agreement concluded between the Commission and Pfizer-BioNTech, second, to the provisions on donations and resales and, third, to the provisions on indemnification in the advance purchase agreements and purchase agreements concluded between it and the relevant pharmaceutical companies for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines on the basis of the first 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;










2.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










3.


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






(1)  
            OJ C 513, 20.12.2021.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/5230/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)