Europa The aim pursued by Decision 93/731 on public access to Council documents, as well as being to ensure the internal operation of the Council in conformity with the interests of good administration, is to provide the public with the widest possible access to documents held by the Council, so that any exception to that right of access must be interpreted and applied strictly.
The principle of proportionality requires that derogations remain within the limits of what is appropriate and necessary for achieving the aim in view. In the absence of any reason to show why an institution should be able to keep secret the items of information in a document which are not covered by the exceptions laid down in Article 4(1) of Decision 93/731, a refusal to grant partial access would be manifestly disproportionate for ensuring the confidentiality of the items of information covered by one of those exceptions. The aim pursued by the Council in refusing access to the contested report could be achieved even if the Council did no more than remove, after examination, the passages in the report which might harm international relations.
Citations:
C-353/99, [2002] 1 WLR 1930, [2001] EUECJ C-353/99P, [2001] EUECJ C-353/99
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Olli Mattila v Council of the European Union and Commission of the European Communities ECJ 22-Jan-2004
Europa Appeal – Access to documents – Decisions 93/731/EC and 94/90/ECSC, EC, Euratom – Exception relating to the protection of the public interest in the field of international relations – Partial access.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European
Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.167122