Case T-255/24: Judgment of the General Court of 10 September 2025 – Nouwen v Council (Access to documents – Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 – Documents concerning the work of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) established by the Council – Partial refusal of access – Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001 – Exceptions relating to the protection of the public interest as regards international relations and the financial, monetary or economic policy of the Union or of a Member State – General presumption of confidentiality – Obligation to state reasons)
Date: 2025-09-10
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: abuse of power, access to EU information, code of conduct, confidentiality, disclosure of information, economic policy, electronic mail, financial policy, international relations








C_202505699EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5699


3.11.2025






Judgment of the General Court of 10 September 2025 – Nouwen v Council


(Case T-255/24)
                (1)

(Access to documents - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Documents concerning the work of the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) established by the Council - Partial refusal of access - Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001 - Exceptions relating to the protection of the public interest as regards international relations and the financial, monetary or economic policy of the Union or of a Member State - General presumption of confidentiality - Obligation to state reasons)
(C/2025/5699)
Language of the case: Dutch

Parties


Applicant: Martijn Frederik Nouwen (Amsterdam, Netherlands) (represented by: M. Weijers, lawyer)

Defendant: Council of the European Union (represented by: B. Driessen and L. Atzeni, acting as Agents)

Re:

By his action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of Decision SGS 24/00008 of the Council of the European Union of 7 March 2024, by which the Council refused to grant him access to certain documents of the group established by the Council and composed of high-level representatives of the Member States and the European Commission, relating to the revision of a code of conduct in the field of business taxation.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Annuls Decision SGS 24/00008 of the Council of the European Union of 7 March 2024, in so far as the Council, first, refused to grant access to the emails sent by the Italian Republic on 23 November 2021 and the Republic of Austria on 15 October 2021; second, refused to grant broader access to the email sent by the Republic of Lithuania on 24 November 2021; and, third, ruled out the possibility of granting partial access to the remaining documents identified in paragraph 33 of that decision, namely the emails sent by Ireland on 16 October, 22 October and 16 November 2020, and on 19 February, 2 August, 19 October, 21 October and 3 November 2021, the French Republic on 22 October and 16 November 2020, the Italian Republic on 22 October and 16 November 2020, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on 26 October 2020, 4 August, 19 October and 2 November 2021;










2.


Dismisses the action as to the remainder;










3.


Orders the Council and Mr Martijn Frederik Nouwen each to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C, C/2024/4336, 15.7.2024.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5699/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)