ECJ Makes Key Ruling On Access To Legal Advice Under Public Access Regulation

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has made a key ruling which provides that applicants under the Public Access Regulation (1049/2001) are entitled to see copies of the legal advice given to the EU Council regarding proposed Directives. The decision could lead to an explosion in the requests for advice, particularly from lobbyists seeking information on upcoming legal developments.

This judgment is a reversal of a decision by the Court of First Instance (CFI), which held that Article 4(2) of the Public Access Directive provided for a blanket exclusion on the release of legal advice obtained by the Council. The ECJ held that Article 4(2), which provides that documents may be withheld where their disclosure would undermine the protection of legal advice, was only applicable where the recipient of that advice (in this case the EU Council) could show that it was clearly foreseeable that there was a risk that