Access to EU documents: Opinion of the EU Advocate General in Case C-588/21 P Public.Resource.Org et Right to Know v Commission e.a.

Thursday 22 June 2023

Opinion in Case C-588/21 P Public.Resource.Org et Right to Know v Commission e.a.

(Provisions governing the institutions – Access to Documents)

By their appeal, Public.Resource.Org, Inc. and Right to Know CLG, non-profit organisations whose main focus is to make the law freely accessible to all citizens, seek to set aside the judgment of the General Court of 14 July 2021, Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v Commission (T-185/19).

That judgment rejected as unfounded their action seeking the annulment of Commission Decision C(2019) 639 final of 22 January 2019 refusing to grant them a request for access to four harmonised technical standards (‘HTS’) adopted by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN).

The Court is being asked to rule on the issue whether HTS – which the Court has already recognised as forming part of EU law and having legal effects – are copyrightable; and whether the rule of law as well as the principle of transparency and the right of access to documents, as enshrined in Article 15 TFEU, require that access to HTS be condition-free and free of charge.

Background Documents C-588/21 P