Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Information relating to the environment — Definition — Documents which are not related to carrying out a public service — Whether included — (Council Directive 90/313, Art. 2(a))

2. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Grounds which may justify a refusal to supply information relating to the environment — Exceptions — Strict interpretation — (Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(2) and (3))

3. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Examination of the merits by the Court — Absence of adverse effects of alleged failure — Irrelevant — (Art. 226 EC)

4. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Member States allowed to refuse to grant a request for information in certain specified cases — Transposition without legislative action — Conditions — Existence of a general legal context ensuring full implementation of the directive — (Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(3))

5. Environment — Freedom of access to information — Directive 90/313 — Implied decision refusing a request for information relating to the environment — Obligation of public authority automatically to provide the reasons for refusal — Time-limit — (Council Directive 90/313, Art. 3(4))

Summary

1. In the light of its actual wording and taking account, in particular, of the use of the words "any ... information" , the scope of application of Article 2(a) of Directive 90/313 on the freedom of access to information on the environment and, consequently, that of the directive, must be considered to have been intended to be wide. It thus covers all information which relates either to the state of the environment or to activities or measures which could affect it, or to activities or measures intended to protect the environment, without the list in that provision including any indication such as to restrict its scope, so that "information relating to the environment" within the meaning of Directive 90/313 must be understood to include documents which are not related to carrying out a public service.

see paras 44, 47

2. As exceptions to the principle of supplying information relating to the environment, which forms the purpose of Directive 90/313 on the freedom of access to information on the environment, the grounds which may justify a refusal to supply such information must be interpreted strictly, so that it is appropriate to consider that the derogations set out in Article 3(2) and (3) of that directive are the subject of an exhaustive list and refer to "certain specific and clearly defined cases" in which "it may be justified to refuse a request for information relating to the environment" .

A domestic provision authorising public authorities to refuse to allow consultation of or to provide an administrative document whose dissemination would prejudice, "generally, secrets protected by legislation" , a ground for refusal which is not mentioned in the exhaustive list of exceptions in the first subparagraph of Article 3(2) of Directive 90/313, therefore clearly exceeds the scope of those exceptions.

see paras 57, 59-60

3. As failure to comply with an obligation imposed by a rule of Community law is itself sufficient to constitute the breach, the fact that such a failure had no adverse effects is irrelevant.

see para. 62

4. A general legal context, which finds expression in the case in point in the existence of concepts whose content is clear and precise and which are applied in the framework of settled domestic case-law must be held to be sufficient for the purpose of properly transposing Article 3(3) of Directive 90/313 on the freedom of access to information on the environment which allows the competent authorities to refuse a request for information which is unreasonable or formulated in too general a manner or relates to unfinished or internal documents or data.

As regards a provision such as Article 3(3), the requirement for specific transposition would be of very little practical use since that provision is drafted in very general terms and sets out rules which are in the nature of general principles common to the legal systems of the Member States. Compliance with a provision of a directive which exhibits those characteristics must thus be essentially ensured when it is applied in practice to a specific situation, regardless of whether it is transposed into national law in precisely the same words.

see paras 81-83

5. Article 3(4) of Directive 90/313 on the freedom of access to information on the environment requires the public authority automatically to provide the reasons for its refusing a request for information relating to the environment, without the applicant having to submit a request for that purpose, even if, where the authorities fail to reply, those reasons may be notified to the applicant at a later date. The reasons must be notified within two months of the submission of the initial request, since that notification must, in that situation, be regarded as a "response" for the purposes of that provision.

see paras 115, 118