Submissions made to the Court in case C-260/11

Die Anfrage wurde abgelehnt durch Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union.

Dear European Court of Justice,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001 and Regulation 1367/2006, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

The submission made by Ireland, the Danish government and the Greek government in case C-260/11

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Dear European Court of Justice,

Hi I was wondering if you had the opportunity to consider my request for information?

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Dear European Court of Justice,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of European Court of Justice's handling of my FOI request 'Submissions made to the Court in case C-260/11'.

I did not receive a response to my initial request and therefore I am appealing on the basis of a deemed refusal.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/submi...

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Registry ECJ, Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

Firstly my apologies for the delay in replying to your request – the
Registry of the Court has just moved to new premises and this has,
naturally,  led to delays.

 

The submissions made to the Court by parties to cases are treated as
confidential and are not disclosed to third parties.  However, the Report
for the Hearing is a public document and summarizes the submissions lodged
– a copy of this document is attached.

 

I hope that this information is of assistance to you.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

L F Hewlett

Principal Administrator
ECJ Registry

 

 

Dear Registry ECJ,

Thank you for your reply.

Can you please deal with my request pursuant to Regulation 1367/2006. If you wish to refuse the request you must do so under an exemption that is recognized by this Regulation and provide reasons. I would also invite you to respect the deadlines set out in this regulation.

I would invite you also to consider joined cases C-514/07 C-528/07 and C-532/07 (Sweden and API -v- Commission)and in particular paragraphs 130 and 131 which do not support the position that court pleadings relating to closed cases may not be disclosed under Regulation 1367/2006.

I respectfully disagree that the submissions made to the court by interveners are confidential since they were opened in a public courtroom. In fact I could have learned of their contents if I had attended the hearing in Luxembourg.

Secondly even if they were confidential the public interest favours release of the documents since there would be no harm to an interest recognized in Regulation 1367/2006 should they be released.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Dear Registry ECJ,

I was wondering if you had a chance to consider my email from the 13th?

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Dear Registry ECJ,

I have still not received a reply to my email dated 19th August. I was wondering if you could acknowledge my request and provide the information that I have requested or reasons for refusing access pursuant to Regulations 1367/2006 and 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Dear Registry ECJ,

I still have not received a response to my emails dated 13, 19 and 23 of August regarding the status of my request to access specific environmental information held by the ECJ.

The request was made under Regulation 1367/2006 which sets out the legal framework under which the ECJ must deal with such a request including which information must be released, when a refusal is warranted and the length of time provided for each stage in the procedure.

Accordingly I would be obliged if you could update me on the status of my request and respond to me as provided in Regulation 1367/2006.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Registry ECJ, Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union

Dear Sir,

 

With reference to your e-mail of 3 September requesting access to
environmental information, please re-send your request using the form
“Application for access to documents” available on the Court’s website –
see link below.

 

[1]http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_95917/

 

Yours faithfully,

 

L F Hewlett

Principal Administrator

ECJ Registry

References

Visible links
1. http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_95917/

Dear Registry ECJ,

Firstly I do not believe I sent an email dated 3 September.

Secondly I do not believe that I am obliged to use the form on your website to submit a request. If I am wrong can you say precisely which legal provision obliges me to use the Court website to submit a request.

My request was validly submitted via AskTheEU.org website and I received a response from you providing some information that I did not request and ignoring the information that I actually requested.

I am quite frustrated that this request has not been dealt with in accordance with the relevant procedures.

I have sought further information in relation to the procedures the Court has adopted to implement Regulation 1367/2006 (http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/rules...) but it seems to me that such procedures do not exist.

At stage it seems to me that the only avenue open to me is to request the Ombudsman to investigate the handling of this request for access to environmental information.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Registry ECJ, Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union

Dear Sir,

 

With reference to your e-mail, received on 5 September 2013, Article 4,
paragraph 1, of the Court’s Decision concerning public access to documents
held by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the exercise of its
administrative functions states that “Applications for access to a
document of the Court of Justice of the European Union must be made in one
of the official languages of the European Union on a form which is
available on the Internet site of the Court of Justice of the European
Union”.

 

Could you please, therefore, resubmit your request using the appropriate
channel.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

L F Hewlett

Principal Administrator

ECJ Registry

Dear Registry ECJ,

My request was made pursuant to Regulation 1367/2006 which implements the Aarhus convention and provides rights to members of the public to access environmental information held by or on behalf of European Union institutions.

The right is derived from an instrument of international law and not from Article 15(3) of the TFEU.

Article 1(2) of the decision on access to documents is clear that the decision is without prejudice to public rights of access that arise under instruments of international law. In other words Article 4(1) does not apply to my request which was made pursuant to rights established by the Aarhus Convention.

As a practical matter given that we are in contact and you have provided some information I can't see why after some months the Court is raising an objection as to the formalities of my request.

Even if the decision applied, which I do not accept, your actions in proceeding with processing my request represent a waiver by the Court of the requirement as to the use of the online form.

I am maintaining my request as submitted and would be obliged if you could deal with the substantive issues.

Best regards

To summarise I would

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Dear Registry ECJ,

Could you please update me as to the status of my request. Since you have not responded to my request according to the procedure mandated by Regulation 1367/2006 I plan on making a complaint to the Ombudsman if I don't hear from you by 4 October 2013.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Fred Logue hat eine Nachricht hinterlassen ()

Complaint filed with Ombudsman on 5 October 2013

Registry ECJ, Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union

Dear Sir,

 

With reference to your e-mail of 13 August 2013, your request has been
considered and the response is as follows:

 

The provisions concerning access to documents contained in Regulation (EC)
n° 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 6 September
2006, on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on
access to information, public participation in decision-making and access
to justice in environmental matters to Community institutions and bodies
(OJ L 264, 25.9.2006) are not applicable to documents received and held by
the Court acting in its judicial capacity.

 

The “Community institutions or bodies” referred to in Regulation n°
1367/2006 are defined, in article 2, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph c) of that
Regulation, as “any public institution, body, office or agency established
by, or on the basis of, the Treaty, except when acting in a judicial or
legislative capacity”.

 

Similarly, the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public
participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental
matters to Community institutions and bodies (OJ L 124, 17.5.2005)
specifies,  in article 2, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph 2, that the
definition “public authority” employed in the Convention “does not include
bodies or institutions acting in a judicial or legislative capacity”.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

L F Hewlett

Principal Administrator

ECJ Registry

 

 

Dear Registry ECJ,

Thanks for your reply which came after the deadline that I had set for a response.

You are indeed correct that Community Institutions when acting in a judicial or legislative capacity are exempt from the application of Regulation 1367/2006.

This exemption as it applies in Directive 2003/4 has been examined by the Court in Case C-204/09 (Flachglas Torgau GmbH) concerning bodies acting in a legislative capacity.

The Court found that the exception can no longer be exercised where the legislative process in question has ended (para 58).

Since the judicial process about which I am seeking access to information is now closed the exception that you cite is no longer activated and the Court, according to its own jurisprudence, is not exempt from obligations under Regulation 1367/2006 in relation to that information.

Therefore the information should be released without further delay.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Registry ECJ, Gerichtshof der Europäischen Union

Dear Mr Logue,

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 12 October 2013.  We have taken note of the
arguments that you put forward in your e-mail concerning, in particular,
the judgment of the Court in Case C-204/09, Flachglas Torgau.  In our
view, those arguments do not provide any grounds to change our initial
decision in the matter.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Registry of the Court of Justice