ECFI Article 4 of Council Decision 93/731 on public access to Council documents lays down exceptions to the principle that the public is to have access to such documents, distinguishing between the cases referred to in Article 4(1), in which access may not be granted where its disclosure could undermine certain interests listed therein, and those referred to in Article 4(2), in which access may be refused to protect the confidentiality of the Council’ s proceedings.
It is clear both from the terms of Article 4 and from the objective pursued by the decision, namely to allow the public wide access to Council documents, that the Council must, when exercising its discretion under Article 4(2), genuinely balance the interest of citizens in gaining access to its documents against any interest of its own in maintaining the confidentiality of its deliberations. Citizens enjoy rights under Article 4(2) which the Council cannot defeat merely by relying on the fact that under Article 5 of its Rules of Procedure its deliberations are covered by an obligation of professional secrecy, since that obligation applies, according to that article itself, only in so far as the Council does not decide otherwise.
Where it is established that the competing interests involved were not balanced before disclosure was refused, in particular because the reason given was that the Council’ s Rules of Procedure do not allow disclosure of documents such as those requested, relating to the Council’ s deliberations, such refusal must therefore be annulled.
Citations:
Times 02-Nov-1995, T-194/94, [1995] EUECJ T-194/94
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Media
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.172875