#ecj ruling

The EU’s top court annulled the Commission’s decision to deny the newspaper New York Times access to messages exchanged between President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, finding that the EU executive failed to plausibly explain why it does not possess the texts. After a long tug-of-war between the European Commission and The New York Times over transparency surrounding the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine contracts, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that the Commission “has not given a plausible explanation to justify the non-possession of the requested documents.” According to the Court, the Commission cannot simply claim it does not hold the requested documents; it must provide credible explanations that enable both the public and the Court to understand why those documents cannot be located. The ECJ found that The New York Times had submitted relevant and consistent evidence indicating the existence of text messages between the President of the Commission and the CEO of Pfizer regarding the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. “These contracts were totally unprecedented in a totally unprecedented context,” said an EU official ahead of the ruling. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to receive EU authorisation in December 2020, after an advance purchase agreement for 200 million doses. Subsequent contracts in March and May 2021 secured an additional €2.4 billion worth of doses, with an option for 900 million more. The publication uncovered the existence of the messages in 2021 during interviews with Bourla, but encountered obstacles when requesting access to them. The Commission claimed it could not provide the texts. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to obtain the messages, The New York Times brought the matter before the ECJ in January 2023.

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Von der Leyen's Commission has lost a controversial vaccines contracts transparency case on the eve of a crucial vote in the European Parliament to confirm her nomination as Commission President. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has today (17 July) annulled a European Commission decision to conceal certain parts of COVID vaccine contracts amid Von der Leyen’s efforts to gain support for re-election. Back in October 2021, Green MEPs asked for access to the COVID-19 vaccine contracts negotiated by the Commission in order to know the terms and conditions of the agreements. According to the group, the decision to take the case to the High Court came after months of correspondence with the European Commission asking for transparent access to the contracts, to which the executive only provided heavily redacted versions. The ECJ has ruled today that the Commission did not give sufficient access to the purchase agreements and considers that the executive’s decision to publish only redacted versions of the contracts contains irregularities. The ruling comes just one day before the European Parliament votes on Von der Leyen’s reappointment as Commission President.  

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The EU’s top court dealt a further blow to chemical company Chemours on Thursday, as it rejected an appeal concerning the identification of ‘GenX’ as a ‘substance of very high concern’. GenX was introduced by DuPont in 2009 as a substitute for the now banned PFOA, a chemical used in the production of Teflon that was found to be harmful to health. GenX chemicals are used in the manufacture of non-stick products, but studies have linked them to tumours in rats, and toxicity in the kidneys, liver, blood and the immune system, environmental campaigners argue. These substances are part of a larger group of chemicals known as PFAS, which are called ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not degrade in the environment. “They are highly persistent and mobile and therefore are almost impossible to eradicate from the environment once released,” said green group ClientEarth in a statement.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said that Ireland had failed to protect 217 out of 423 defined as so-called special areas of conservation (SAC) identified in 2004. Natura 2000 consists of around 27,000 land and marine sites which are protected under the EU's Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, collectively known as the Nature Directives. The EU's Habitats Directive aims to protect more than a thousand species, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish invertebrates, and plants, and 230 characteristic habitat types, aimed at ensuring such species and habitat types are maintained or restored to a favourable conservation status. The European Commission asked Ireland to take action back in 2013 on SACs, following up a number of times in the decade since. As well as court costs, Ireland is now on the hook for fines from the commission for its failures. Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Niall O'Donnchu, said the judgement in this case was anticipated.

The European Commission has rejected a request from Poland to stop levying fines of €1 million per day for Warsaw’s failure to implement an order by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) relating to its judiciary. The penalties have so far amounted to €526 million (2.4 billion zloty) since being imposed in November 2021. Five months ago, the Polish government requested that Brussels stop levying the fines. It argued that it had complied with the ECJ’s interim measure, issued in July 2021, ordering it to suspend the activity of its disciplinary chamber for judges. Analysts at the time pointed out, however, that the ECJ’s ruling was broader than just closing down the disciplinary chamber and that, in any case, it is not the European Commission but the ECJ itself which decides when the fines should stop.

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The EU’s highest court ruled on Thursday (19 January) that EU countries should no longer be allowed temporary exemptions for banned, bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, putting half of all such derogations to an end.  The European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that member states will no longer be allowed to grant derogations temporarily permitting the use of seeds treated with ‘expressly banned’ plant protection products by EU law. The ruling came in the wake of a request for annulment before the Belgian Administrative Court on the derogation given by Belgium for the use of these bee-toxic insecticides on sugar beets. The request was brought by the campaigner groups Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe and Nature & Progrès Belgium together with a Belgian beekeeper. The plant protection products in question – imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam – belong to a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which are chemically similar to nicotine and target insects. Neonicotinoids have come under fire in recent years for contributing to the decline of bees by disrupting their sense of orientation, memory and mode of reproduction.