26.2.2011

Official Journal of the European Union

C 63/10

(Case C-524/09)(Preliminary rulings - Aarhus Convention - Directive 2003/4/EC - Public access to information in environmental matters - Directive 2003/87/EC - Scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading - Regulation (EC) No 2216/2004 - Standardised, secured system of registries - Access to data on greenhouse gas emission allowance trading - Refusal to report - Central administrator - Administrators of national registries - Confidential nature of the data held in the registries - Exceptions)

2011/C 63/18

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Ville de Lyon

Defendant: Caisse des dépôts et consignations

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Tribunal administratif de Paris — Interpretation of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information (OJ 2003 L 41, p. 26) and Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (OJ 2003 L 275, p. 32), and also Articles 9 and 10 of Annex XVI to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2216/2004 of 21 December 2004 for a standardised and secured system of registries pursuant to Directive 2003/87 and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ 2004 L 386, p. 1) — Access to information relating to greenhouse gas emission allowance trading — Refusal to communicate that information — Respective jurisdiction of the central administrator and the administrators of national registries — Confidential nature of the information held in the registries and possible exceptions

Operative part of the judgment

1.A request for the reporting of trading data such as that requested in the main proceedings, relating to the names of holders of the transferring accounts and acquiring accounts of the emission allowances, allowances or Kyoto units involved in those transactions and the date and time of those transactions, comes exclusively under the specific rules governing public reporting and confidentiality contained in Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC, in the version resulting from Directive 2004/101/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004, and in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2216/2004 of 21 December 2004 for a standardised and secured system of registries pursuant to Directive 2003/87 and Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

2.Trading data such as that requested in the main proceedings by a public authority wishing to renegotiate an agreement on public service delegation is confidential data within the meaning of Regulation No 2216/2004 and, under Articles 9 and 10 of that regulation, read in conjunction with paragraphs 11 and 12 of Annex XVI to that regulation, such data, in the absence of the prior consent of the relevant account holders, may be freely consulted by the general public only in the public area of the Community independent transaction log’s website from 15 January onwards of the fifth year (X+5) following the year (X) of completion of the transactions relating to transfers of emission allowances;

3.Although, for the purposes of implementation of Regulation No 2216/2004, it is the Central Administrator who has sole competence to report to the general public the data referred to in paragraph 12 of Annex XVI to that regulation, the administrator of the national registry who has received a request for reporting of such trading data must independently reject that request since, in the absence of the prior consent of the relevant account holders, that administrator is required to guarantee the confidentiality of that data until it has become legally reportable to the general public by the Central Administrator.

Language of the case: French.