Spain poor implementation of the Nitrates Directive
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 am requesting documents which contain the following information.
On 2/12/2021 the European Commission decided to refer Spain to the Court of Justice of the European Union for poor implementation of the Nitrates Directive. I would like to know:
- which is the actual situation of this case
- the calendar with next steps of this case
- if you have an estimation on when this case will be concluded (judgement from Court of Justice of the EU)
Yours faithfully,
Luís Ferreirim
Dear Sir,
In response to your inquiry, 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...
In the light of the above, we can provide you with the following
information regarding your specific request.
It seems from your email that you are inquiring about the case C-576/22,
Commission / Spain.
A notice of the action being brought by the Commission in that case is
available in the [3]Official Journal.
In this case, the written part of the procedure is under way. We cannot
provide you with the estimated time when the final decision will be
rendered. The length of particular proceedings depends on several factors,
in particular the complexity of the case and the need to open also an oral
part of the procedure. However, some statistical information about the
length of proceedings in general is available in the Court’s [4]Annual
Report.
A general description of the [5]procedure of the Court is available on the
court’s website as are sevral [6]documents containing rules governing that
procedure.
For further information concerning the jurisdiction and the work of the
Court, please visit the Court’s website at: [7]www.curia.europa.eu.
Registry of the Court of Justice
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years. For further information, please consult the Court’s website
([9]https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/a1_109...).