ACTA. De Europese Commissie heeft met een beroep op het algemeen belang verzoekster In ’t Veld bij besluit van 4 mei 2010 volledige toegang tot alle documenten betreffende de onderhandelingen over een ontwerp van een Internationale Handelsovereenkomst ter bestrijding van namaak (ACTA) geweigerd. Dit besluit van de Commissie wordt nu door het Gerecht gedeeltelijk vernietigd: verzoekster krijgt echter slechts toegang tot twee (van de vijftig) documenten en tot een aantal redactionele wijzigingen van andere documenten.
138 In those circumstances, the Commission did not commit a manifest error of assessment in finding, at Section 5.1 of the decision of 4 May 2010, that the disclosure of documents 1 to 20 and 22 to the applicant and, therefore, of the negotiating positions of the negotiating parties and of the European Union, would have compromised the sphere of mutual trust necessary for each of the negotiating parties to freely express its position, and would have affected the negotiating position of the European Union.
140 However, with regard to document 21 of the list annexed to the decision of 4 May 2010, it should be noted that this is not a document expressing a negotiating position of one or more parties, but at most a list of questions for discussion, without indirect implications. In those circumstances, it must be considered that the refusal of the request for access with respect to that document is vitiated by a manifest error of assessment, as the Commission wrongly held that the disclosure of that document would compromise the protection of the public interest in international relations.
141 It follows that whereas, contrary to what the applicant maintains, the Commission did not, in the exercise of its margin of discretion in respect of the exceptions to the right of access under Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001, commit a manifest error by refusing access to documents 1 to 20 and 22 of the list annexed to the decision of 4 May 2010, for the reasons stated in Section 5.1 of that decision, it is appropriate, however, to uphold the present part of the third plea regarding document 21 of the list annexed to that decision.
145 Given the purpose and content of those documents and, as the Commission noted, in essence, in its decision of 4 May 2010 (Section 5.2), such disclosure was likely to affect both the credibility of the Commission as a negotiating partner vis-à-vis the other negotiating parties, and the relationship of all the negotiating parties – and thus of the European Union – with any third countries wishing to join the negotiations.
146 It follows that this part of the third plea must be rejected as regards documents 23 and 24.
151 It follows that, whereas the refusal to grant access to document 26 does not, contrary to what the applicant claims, contain any manifest error of assessment, having regard to the content of that document and the views correctly expressed by the Commission in Section 5.3 of the decision of 4 May 2010, it is appropriate, nevertheless, to uphold this part of the third plea regarding document 25 of the list annexed to that decision.
183 While the applicant’s criticisms regarding the redactions made by the decision of 4 May 2010 in documents 45 to 48 of the list annexed to that decision appear, therefore, for the most part, unjustified, nevertheless the applicant correctly claims that some of the redactions made by the Commission in those documents are manifestly incorrect.
184 That is the case with the redactions made in document 45, page 2, under the heading ‘Participants’, second paragraph, last sentence; in document 47, page 1, under ‘Participants’, second paragraph, last sentence; in document 47, page 2, under ‘1. Digital Environment (including Internet)’, second paragraph, last sentence; in document 48, page 2, the paragraph under Section 4, end of sentence.
186 It follows from the above considerations that this part of the third plea must be rejected as regards documents 45 to 48 of the list annexed to the decision of 4 May 2010, except in relation to the redactions referred to in paragraph 184 above.
224 It follows from all the foregoing that the action must be dismissed, except in so far as it challenges the refusal to grant access to documents 21 and 25 in the list annexed to the decision of 4 May 2010 and the redactions mentioned in paragraph 184 above, made in documents 45, 47 and 48 in the list annexed to that decision.
Lees het arrest hier.
