Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Commission - Right of public access to Commission documents - Decision 94/90 - Measure conferring rights on individuals - Exceptions to the principle of access to documents - Interpretation - Obligation to state reasons - Scope - Refusal to grant access not indicating the specific reasons justifying the exception relied upon - Illegality

(EC Treaty, Arts 162 and 190; Commission Decision 94/90)

Summary

Notwithstanding the fact that Article 162 of the Treaty was taken as its legal basis, Decision 94/90 on public access to Commission documents is a measure conferring on citizens a right of access to documents held by that institution, since there is nothing to prevent rules on the internal organisation of the work of an institution having legal effects vis-à-vis third parties. By virtue of that decision, which is intended to apply generally, any person may request access to any unpublished Commission document, and is not required to give a reason for the request.

Whilst the right of access is subject to certain exceptions, which fall into two categories, those exceptions must be interpreted strictly, in order not to frustrate the application of the general principle of giving the public the widest possible access to documents. As regards the exceptions in the first category, which include the provision `the institutions will refuse access to any document where disclosure could undermine ... the protection of the public interest (public security, international relations, monetary stability, court proceedings, inspections and investigations)', the Commission must, before reaching a decision on a request, consider, for each document requested, whether in the light of the information in its possession disclosure is in fact likely to undermine one of the those interests. If so, the Commission is bound to refuse access to the document in question.

In order to comply with the requirements entailed by Article 190 of the Treaty, the statement of the reasons for such a decision must contain - at least for each category of documents concerned - the specific reasons for which the Commission considers that disclosure of the documents requested is precluded by one of the exceptions provided for in the first category, in order to enable the person to whom the decision is addressed to satisfy himself that the Commission did in fact consider the documents in the manner described above and to assess whether the grounds for refusal are justified.

Where the reason stated for a refusal to grant access is that the documents requested concern a decision which is the subject-matter of an action for annulment, accompanied only by the conclusion that the exception for protection of the public interest (court proceedings) is applicable, that refusal must be annulled in that it provides no explanation, even for categories of documents, from which it might be ascertained whether all the documents requested do indeed fall within the scope of the exception relied upon because they bear a relation to the decision whose annulment is sought.