EU General Court Judgments in Cases T-689/21 Auken and Others v Commission and T-761/21 Courtois and Others v Commission

Wednesday 17th July 2024

EU General Court: Judgments in Cases T-689/21 Auken and Others v Commission and T-761/21 Courtois and Others v Commission

(Provisions governing the institutions – Access to documents)

Since 2020, due to the urgency of the situation, the research and development of a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 represented a real challenge for the European Commission. That same year, thanks to emergency aid and the adoption of an EU Strategy for COVID-19 vaccines, advance purchase contracts between the Commission and pharmaceutical companies were concluded following a procurement procedure launched on behalf of all the participating Member States: some €2.7 billion was quickly made available to place a firm order for more than a billion doses of vaccine.

In 2021, some MEPs raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the COVID-19 vaccine contracts negotiated by the Commission at EU level. They requested access to these documents to understand the terms and conditions of the agreements, and to ensure that the public interest was protected.

The Commission refused to disclose these documents and only agreed to give partial access to certain contracts and documents placed online in redacted versions. Certain passages had in fact been blacked out on the basis of exceptions relating to the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, the protection of commercial interests and the protection of the decision-making process of the institutions.

Faced with this refusal, the MEPs concerned applied to the General Court of the European Union for the concerned decisions to be annulled. They argued that the Commission acted unlawfully in refusing access to the documents. In their view, the reasons given were not sufficiently justified, even though the content of the contracts was not of a confidential nature. The MEPs also strongly contest the Commission’s argument that the definitions of certain terms contained in a commercial contract should be considered as information protected from disclosure, insofar as it is commercially sensitive.

Background Documents T-689/21

Background Documents T-761/21

Mittwoch, 17. Juli 2024

Urteile des EU-Gerichts in den Rechtssachen T‑689/21 Auken u. a. / EU-Kommission und T‑761/21 Courtois u. a. / Kommission

Zugang zu Verträgen über die Beschaffung von Covid-19-Impfstoffen

T-689/21: Margarete Auken und vier weitere Mitglieder des Europäischen Parlaments haben 2021 bei der Europäischen Kommission Zugang zu Verträgen beantragt, die die Kommission mit Pharmaunternehmen –  insbesondere AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Johnson und Johnson, BioNTechPfizer, CureVac und Moderna – über den Kauf von Covid-19-Impfstoffen geschlossen habe.

Da die Kommission den Anträgen nur teilweise stattgab, haben die Abgeordneten Klage vor dem Gericht der EU erhoben.

T-761/21: Auch zwei Rechtsanwälte aus Frankreich beantragten 2021- im Namen von 86 000 Unterzeichnern einer Petition – bei der Kommission Zugang zu Verträgen mit den Herstellern von Covid-19-Impfstoffen, außerdem zu Informationen darüber, wer auf Seiten der EU an den Verhandlungen teilgenommen habe sowie zu etwaigen Interessensbekundungen.

Da die Kommission den Anträgen nur teilweise stattgab, haben Herr Courtois und weitere 2088 Bürger, die zu den Unterzeichnern der Petition gehören, Klage vor dem Gericht der EU erhoben.

Das Gericht verkündet heute seine Urteile über diese Klagen.

Weitere Informationen T-689/21

Weitere Informationen T-761/21