25.8.2012

Official Journal of the European Union

C 258/3

(Case C-404/10 P) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Appeals - Access to documents of the institutions - Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Documents relating to merger control proceedings - Regulations (EEC) No 4064/89 and (EC) No 139/2004 - Refusal to grant access - Exceptions relating to the protection of investigations, commercial interests, legal advice and the decision-making process of the institutions - Duty of the institution concerned to carry out a concrete, individual examination of the content of the documents covered by the application for access)

2012/C 258/04

Language of the case: French

Parties

Appellant: European Commission (represented by: B. Smulders, O. Beynet and P. Costa de Oliveira, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the applicant: Czech Republic (represented by: M. Smolek and D. Hadroušek, acting as Agents), French Republic (represented by: J. Gstalter, acting as Agent)

Other parties to the proceedings: Éditions Odile Jacob SAS (represented by: O. Fréget and L. Eskenazi, avocats), Lagardère SCA (represented by: A. Winckler, F. de Bure and J.-B. Pinçon, avocats)

Interveners in support of Éditions Odile Jacob SAS: Kingdom of Denmark (represented by: S. Juul Jørgensen and C. Vang, acting as Agents), Kingdom of Sweden (represented by: K. Petkovska, acting as Agent)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 9 June 2010, Éditions Jacob v Commission (T-237/05), annulling the Commission’s decision of 7 April 2005 (D(2005) 3286), to the extent that it refuses the appellant access to the documents concerning the merger control proceedings COMP/M.2978 Lagardère/Natexis/VUP — Documents relating to merger control procedures — Exception relating to the protection of the purpose of investigations — Duty of the institution concerned to carry out a concrete, individual examination of the content of the documents covered by the application for access

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.Sets aside paragraphs 2 to 6 of the operative part of the judgment of the General Court of the European Union in Case T-237/05 Éditions Jacob v Commission;

2.Dismisses the cross-appeal;

3.Dismisses the action brought before the General Court of the European Union seeking annulment of Commission Decision D(2005) 3286 of 7 April 2005, dismissing the application of Éditions Odile Jacob SAS for access to documents relating to merger control procedure COMP/M.2978 — Lagardère/Natexis/VUP;

4.Orders Éditions Odile Jacob SAS to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the Commission and Lagardère both at first instance and on appeal;

5.Orders the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the French Republic and the Kingdom of Sweden to bear their own costs.

(<span class="super">1</span>) OJ C 274, 9.10.2010.