In a win for information justice, the Court of Justice of the European Union recently ruled that there was an overriding public interest in disclosing “harmonised standards” of the EU.
Public.Resource.Org Inc. and Right to Know CLG had requested access to four harmonized standards adopted by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), which the European Commission refused to disclose, citing the protection of commercial interests under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. These harmonised standards related generally to the safety of toys and chemical substances.
The appellants successfully argued that there was an overriding public interest in the disclosure of these standards. In its final decision, the court emphasized the principles of the rule of law, transparency, openness, and good governance and annulled the Commission’s decision to refuse access to the requested documents, while ordering that they be made available to all for free.
