Rules and procedures for the implementation of Regulation 1367/2006 by the Court

La demande est réussie.

Dear European Court of Justice,

Under the right of access to environmental information in the Aarhus Convention as developed in Regulation 1367/2006, I am requesting the following information:

The rules and procedures adopted by the CJEU in order to implement REGULATION (EC) No 1367/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 6 September 2006.

Article 2(1)(c) obliges the Court to provide access to environmental information to the public under this regulation.

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Dear European Court of Justice,

I was wondering if you received my request for access to environmental information under Regulation 1367/2006.

This Regulation obliges Community Institutions (including the CJEU) to provide access to information on the environment to the public using the procedures in Regulation 1049/2001.

The CJEU is obliged to acknowledge receipt of my request and to provide a decision within 15 working days.

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 'Rules and procedures for the implementation of Regulation 1367/2006 by the Court'.

I have not received a response within the time mandated by Regulation 1367/2006 therefore I am requesting an internal review of the decision to refuse my request, such a decision being a deemed refusal by not responding.

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

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Dear European Court of Justice,

I wish to point out that I have not received a response within the 15 working day deadline for a confirmatory application.

Could you please update me as to the status of my request. Since I have not received any response to my request I plan on making a complaint to the Ombudsman if I don't hear from you by 4 October 2013.

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Fred Logue a laissé une remarque ()

Complaint filed with Ombudsman on 5 October 2013

Gonzalez Juan-Carlos, Cour de justice de l'Union européenne

Dear Mr. Logue,

Further to your request for access to document(s) containing rules and procedures adopted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter the ‘CJEU’) in order to implement Regulation (EC) No 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, 25.09.2006, p. 13), I would like to apologize – on behalf of the CJEU – for the delay in reacting to your request.

Such a delay is mainly due to the non-use of the compulsory form referred to in Article 4(1) of the Decision of the CJEU of 11 December 2012 concerning public access to documents held by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the exercise of its administrative functions (OJ C 38, 09.02.2013, p. 2) (hereinafter the ‘Decision of 11 December 2012’), which is applicable to any request for access to documents held by the CJEU in its administrative functions, irrespective of whether they contain environmental information within the meaning of Article 2(1)(d) of Regulation No 1367/2006, or not.

Actually, the fact that Article 3 of Regulation No 1367/2006 provides that 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 (OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43) shall apply to any request for access to environmental information held by European Union institutions and bodies does not preclude the application of provisions adopted by the latter setting out procedural modalities for the submission of requests for access to documents, as long as they are not incompatible with Regulation No 1367/2006 and, in cascade, with Regulation No 1049/2001.

There is no doubt that provisions such as the one laid down in Article 4(1) of the Decision of 11 December 2012, detailing by which means requests for access to documents held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions have to be submitted, are not incompatible with the abovementioned regulations.

Therefore, any application for access to documents containing environmental information held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions should be introduced through the form available on the CJEU website in an official EU language (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_92908/).

Despite the fact that your request has not been introduced in accordance with this requirement, exceptionally, the Court has decided to reply to it, due to the delay already taken in dealing with it.

It follows from the above that the Decision of 11 December 2012 can be considered as containing rules and procedures which are applicable to requests for access to documents (held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions) introduced in the framework of Regulation No 1367/2006. No particular rule/procedure has been adopted by the CJEU with the specific aim of implementing Regulation No 1367/2006.

In the future, in case you wish to ask for access to documents with regard to environmental information held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions, please bear in mind that your request has to be submitted via the form available on the CJEU website (see above) specifying the documents for which you are requesting access.

Yours sincerely,

Juan Carlos González
-----------------------------------
Head of Unit Press and Information
Court of Justice of the European Union
L-2925 Luxembourg
 +352 4303 2623
 +352 4303 2500
www.curia.europa.eu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Logue [mailto:[FOI #770 email]]
Sent: mercredi 11 septembre 2013 05:44
To: Registry ECJ
Subject: Internal review of access to information request - Rules and procedures for the implementation of Regulation 1367/2006 by the Court

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 'Rules and procedures for the implementation of Regulation 1367/2006 by the Court'.

I have not received a response within the time mandated by Regulation 1367/2006 therefore I am requesting an internal review of the decision to refuse my request, such a decision being a deemed refusal by not responding.

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

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #770 email]

This message and all replies from European Court of Justice will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

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-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Logue [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: mardi 10 septembre 2013 12:47
To: Registry ECJ
Subject: Re: Your information request

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

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-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Logue [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: jeudi 5 septembre 2013 21:23
To: Registry ECJ
Subject: Re: Your e-mail of 3 September

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

-----Original Message-----

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/

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Dear Gonzalez Juan-Carlos,

Thank you for your reply and for letting me know that the CJEU holds no information in relation to my request.

I have forwarded your response to the official in the Ombudsman's office who is responsible for handling this case.

I would make a brief comment in relation to your legal justification in relation to the delay. While I agree that the Court may provide an online form to facilitate requests for environmental information I disagree that it can mandate the use of this form.

Even based on first principles mandating use of the internet discriminates against requestors who do not have access to the internet. In that case it is likely that Article 4(1) of the Decision of the CJEU of 11 December 2012 is illegal based on the Treaties and the principles of EU law.

Turning to the relevant Regulations you would need to point to a specific provision in relation to mandatory formalities in either 1367/2006 or 1049/2001 to support your contention and you have not done so since no such provision exists. The CJEU does not have the power to limit the scope of the application of these regulations which have been adopted by the legislature.

Indeed you might note that most of the institutions of the EU are happy to accept and respond to requests for access to information via email and through the AskTheEU system.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

Gonzalez Juan-Carlos, Cour de justice de l'Union européenne

Dear Mr. Logue,
In response to your remarks in your mail to me and to your mail of 28th of November 2013 to the Registry of the Court of Justice, let me just point out that Article 4(1) of the Decision of the CJEU of 11 December 2012 concerning public access to documents held by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the exercise of its administrative functions does not require the use of the Internet for the introduction of requests for access to documents , but only the use of a form. However, this form, pursuant to this provision, is available on the Curia website, but can also be made available on paper by simple request by any citizen who does not have Internet access or prefers to submit their request on paper and not online. A request for access to documents made on paper may be submitted by mail , fax or electronically, as provided in Article 4(1), second sentence, of the decision. There is therefore no discrimination of citizens who do not have access to the internet.

With regard to your remarks concerning the interpretation of the scope of Regulations 1049/2001 and 1367/2006, the Court has taken note of your position but does not share it for the reasons already stated in my former message to you.

Best regards,

Yours sincerely,

Juan Carlos González
-----------------------------------
Head of Unit Press and Information
Court of Justice of the European Union
L-2925 Luxembourg
' +352 4303 2623
7 +352 4303 2500
www.curia.europa.eu

-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Logue [mailto:[FOI #770 email]]
Sent: jeudi 28 novembre 2013 8:46
To: Gonzalez Juan-Carlos
Subject: Re: Internal review of access to information request - Rules and procedures for the implementation of Regulation 1367/2006 by the Court

Dear Gonzalez Juan-Carlos,

Thank you for your reply and for letting me know that the CJEU holds no information in relation to my request.

I have forwarded your response to the official in the Ombudsman's office who is responsible for handling this case.

I would make a brief comment in relation to your legal justification in relation to the delay. While I agree that the Court may provide an online form to facilitate requests for environmental information I disagree that it can mandate the use of this form.

Even based on first principles mandating use of the internet discriminates against requestors who do not have access to the internet. In that case it is likely that Article 4(1) of the Decision of the CJEU of 11 December 2012 is illegal based on the Treaties and the principles of EU law.

Turning to the relevant Regulations you would need to point to a specific provision in relation to mandatory formalities in either 1367/2006 or 1049/2001 to support your contention and you have not done so since no such provision exists. The CJEU does not have the power to limit the scope of the application of these regulations which have been adopted by the legislature.

Indeed you might note that most of the institutions of the EU are happy to accept and respond to requests for access to information via email and through the AskTheEU system.

Yours sincerely,

Fred Logue

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr. Logue,

Further to your request for access to document(s) containing rules and procedures adopted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter the ‘CJEU’) in order to implement Regulation (EC) No 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, 25.09.2006, p. 13), I would like to apologize – on behalf of the CJEU – for the delay in reacting to your request.

Such a delay is mainly due to the non-use of the compulsory form referred to in Article 4(1) of the Decision of the CJEU of 11 December 2012 concerning public access to documents held by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the exercise of its administrative functions (OJ C 38, 09.02.2013, p. 2) (hereinafter the ‘Decision of 11 December 2012’), which is applicable to any request for access to documents held by the CJEU in its administrative functions, irrespective of whether they contain environmental information within the meaning of Article 2(1)(d) of Regulation No 1367/2006, or not.

Actually, the fact that Article 3 of Regulation No 1367/2006 provides that 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 (OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43) shall apply to any request for access to environmental information held by European Union institutions and bodies does not preclude the application of provisions adopted by the latter setting out procedural modalities for the submission of requests for access to documents, as long as they are not incompatible with Regulation No 1367/2006 and, in cascade, with Regulation No 1049/2001.

There is no doubt that provisions such as the one laid down in Article 4(1) of the Decision of 11 December 2012, detailing by which means requests for access to documents held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions have to be submitted, are not incompatible with the abovementioned regulations.

Therefore, any application for access to documents containing environmental information held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions should be introduced through the form available on the CJEU website in an official EU language (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_92908/).

Despite the fact that your request has not been introduced in accordance with this requirement, exceptionally, the Court has decided to reply to it, due to the delay already taken in dealing with it.

It follows from the above that the Decision of 11 December 2012 can be considered as containing rules and procedures which are applicable to requests for access to documents (held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions) introduced in the framework of Regulation No 1367/2006. No particular rule/procedure has been adopted by the CJEU with the specific aim of implementing Regulation No 1367/2006.

In the future, in case you wish to ask for access to documents with regard to environmental information held by the CJEU in the exercise of its administrative functions, please bear in mind that your request has to be submitted via the form available on the CJEU website (see above) specifying the documents for which you are requesting access.

Yours sincerely,

Juan Carlos González
-----------------------------------
Head of Unit Press and Information
Court of Justice of the European Union
L-2925 Luxembourg
 +352 4303 2623
 +352 4303 2500
www.curia.europa.eu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #770 email]

This message and all replies from European Court of Justice will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées