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9.11.2015 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 371/20 |
Judgment of the General Court of 23 September 2015 — ClientEarth and International Chemical Secretariat v ECHA
(Case T-245/11) (1)
((Access to documents - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Documents held by ECHA - Documents deriving from a third party - Time-limit for response to an application for access - Refusal of access - Exception relating to protection of the commercial interests of a third party - Exception relating to protection of the decision-making process - Overriding public interest - Environmental information - Emissions into the environment))
(2015/C 371/22)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: ClientEarth (London, United Kingdom) and The International Chemical Secretariat (Gothenburg, Sweden) (represented by: P. Kirch, lawyer)
Defendant: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (represented by: M. Heikkilä, A. Iber and T. Zbihlej, acting as Agents, and by D. Abrahams, Barrister)
Interveners in support of the defendant: European Commission (represented initially by E. Manhaeve, P. Oliver and C. ten Dam, and subsequently by E. Manhaeve, P. Oliver and F. Clotuche-Duvieusart, and latterly by E. Manhaeve, F. Clotuche-Duvieusart and J. Tomkim, acting as Agents); and European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: Y. van Gerven and M. Bronckers, lawyers)
Re:
Application for the annulment of the ECHA decision of 4 March 2011 refusing access to information supplied in the context of the procedure for registration of certain chemical substances.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
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1. |
Declares that there is no need to adjudicate on the action for annulment of the decision of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) of 4 March 2011, in so far as it refused to disclose information requested by point 1 of the request for information, to the extent that point 1 concerns the names and contact details of 6 611 companies which were accessible over the Internet on 23 April 2014; |
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2. |
Annuls the ECHA decision of 4 March 2011 in so far as it refused to disclose information requested by point 1 of the request for information, to the extent that point 1 concerns information not yet disclosed on 23 April 2014; |
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3. |
Dismisses the action as to the remainder; |
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4. |
Orders each party, including the European Commission and the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), to bear its own costs. |