Documents regarding involvement of NGOs in cases concerning rule of law/democracy/charter of fundamental rgihts
Dear Court of Justice of the European Union,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU Treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I hereby request access to the following documents, which contain the following information:
(a) Any information and/or documents concerning third party intervention, observations, and/or amicus briefs submitted by non-governmental organisations in any of the 27 member states related to cases concerning rule or law and/or democracy issues for the time period 2010-2022 regarding 1) their respective countries, 2) Poland, and 3) Hungary
(b) Any information and/or documents concerning third party intervention, observations, and/or amicus briefs submitted by non-governmental organisations in any of the 27 member states related to cases concerning one or more of the following freedoms and rights of individuals for the time period 2010-2022 regarding 1) their respective countries, 2) Poland, and 3) Hungary:
a. freedom of religion
b. the right to the protection of family life
c. protection of dignity
d. prohibition of double criminality
e. the right to a court
f. rights of defendants in criminal proceedings
g. the right to privacy i. protection of personal data
h. prohibition of discrimination
I would prefer for this information to be sent to me in machine-readable electronic format, so please provide a downloadable link or share via the email below.
I would like to make clear I prefer you produce the documents on a rolling basis. At no point should the Commission's search for - or deliberations concerning - certain documents delay the production of others that the Commission has already retrieved and elected to produce.
Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I would expect the partial release of documents in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6. I reserve the right to appeal.
Please confirm having received this application. I look forward to your reply within 15 business days, according to the regulation. If there are any delays or issues with my request, please feel free to contact me by email.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Regitze H Rohlfing
Dear Sir,
We have received your request regarding access to documents.
We observe that in your email you do not refer to a particular case
pending before the Court nor do you claim to be a party to the proceedings
before the Court.
In such circumstances, as far as access to documents held by the Court is
concerned, we would like to draw your attention, first, to the fact that
access to documents held by the Court of Justice in the exercise of its
administrative functions is subject to the Decision of 26 November 2019 of
the Court, which you can find together with all the relevant information
on the internet ([1]https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_1848...).
Second, as regards access to documents held by the Cour in the exercise of
its judicial functions, we need to point out that the Court does not fall
under the institutions covered by 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. In
addition, it is the practice of the Court to treat procedural documents as
confidential and not to allow access to procedural documents in pending or
closed cases to persons who are not a party to the case. In fact, although
the Statute of the Court of Justice provides that the hearings are public,
it restricts those entitled to receive communication of procedural
documents to the parties and to the institutions whose decisions are in
dispute. Similarly, the Rules of Procedure provide for procedural
documents to be served only on the parties to the proceedings. Therefore,
neither the Statute of the Court of Justice nor the Rules of Procedure
provide for any third-party right of access to documents submitted to the
Court in court proceedings.
Such documents may only become accessible after 30 years, provided the
conditions laid down in the rules on the Historical Archives of the
European Union are met, and without prejudice to an individual assessment
of each request. For further information, please refer to our website:
[2]https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_1848...
Under these circumstances, the Registry regrets to inform you that the
Court is unable to accede to your request.
The Registry of the Court of Justice
The institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the European Union
process personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 (OJ
2018 L 295, p. 39). Your data have been processed by the Court Registry
([3][email address]) for the purpose of replying to your
application. A copy of this reply will be kept by the Registry for two
years. For further information, please consult the Court’s website
([4]https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/a1_109...).