Case T-661/25: Action brought on 27 September 2025 – De Capitani v EUAA
Date: 2025-09-27
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: access to EU information, administrative transparency, disclosure of information, fundamental rights, principle of proportionality








C_202505865EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5865


10.11.2025






Action brought on 27 September 2025 – De Capitani v EUAA


(Case T-661/25)

(C/2025/5865)
Language of the case: Italian

Parties


Applicant: Emilio De Capitani (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: P. Regina and C. Favilli, lawyers)

Defendant: European Union Agency for Asylum

Forms of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:






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annul the decision of 10 July 2025, confirmed on 18 July 2025, by which the European Union Agency for Asylum declared that the confirmatory application lodged by the applicant on 5 July 2025 had to be considered inadmissible due to the expiry of the time limit for making such an application, as laid down by Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) [No] 1049/2001; (1)











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order the European Union Agency for Asylum to pay the costs incurred by the applicant in connection with the present action.





Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of the action, the applicant relies on the following plea in law.






1.


According to the applicant, both a literal and a systematic interpretation of Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) [No] 1049/2001 preclude the procedural time limits laid down therein from being classified as mandatory and absolute deadlines, against both the administration concerned and the individual person applying for access.










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That regulation establishes, in fact, a ‘dialogue’ between the individual and the EU administration, and such a dialogue must be conducted in compliance with the principles of proportionality and reasonableness, as well as the principle of favor civis (the duty of care), which underpins the fundamental right of access to documents – a right that serves as an instrument aimed at ensuring citizen participation and administrative transparency (see the judgment of the Court of Justice of 13 January 2022, Dragnea v Commission, C-351/20 P, EU:C:2022:8, in particular paragraph 72).










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Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union lays down the obligation for every EU administration to handle individuals’ affairs ‘fairly’ and ‘impartially’ – two characteristics that are incompatible, by their very nature, with any form of administrative procedural stringency that does not serve the higher general requirements of the EU legal order.










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The European Union Agency for Asylum declaring by its own authority that the right to make a confirmatory application is automatically forfeit by operation of law and refusing even to examine the contents of such an application does not respect, in the applicant’s view, ‘the essence’ of the fundamental right of access to documents protected by Articles 41, 42 and 52 of the Charter and may amount to that agency acting ultra vires.






(1)  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).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5865/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)