Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions)

ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT

14 February 2020 (*)

(Appeal — Confidentiality)

In Case C‑876/19 P,

APPEAL under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, brought on 29 November 2019,

PlasticsEurope, established in Brussels (Belgium), represented by R. Cana, E. Mullier and F. Mattioli, avocats,

applicant,

the other parties to the proceedings being:

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA),

defendant at first instance,

supported by:

French Republic,

ClientEarth, established in London (United Kingdom), represented by P. Kirch, avocat,

interveners at first instance,

THE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT,

having regard to the proposal of S. Rodin, Judge-Rapporteur,

after hearing the Advocate General, M. Szpunar,

makes the following

Order

1        By its appeal, PlasticsEurope asks the Court of Justice to set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 20 September 2019, PlasticsEurope v ECHA (T‑636/17, ‘the judgment under appeal’, EU:T:2019:639), by which the General Court dismissed its action for the annulment of Decision ED/30/2017 by the Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) of 6 July 2017, by which the existing entry relating to bisphenol A on the list of identified substances with a view to their eventual inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (OJ 2006 L 396, p. 1, corrigendum OJ 2007 L 136, p. 3), was supplemented to the effect that bisphenol A was also identified as a substance within the meaning of Article 57(f) of Regulation No 1907/2006.

2        By document lodged at the Registry of the Court on 9 December 2019, PlasticsEurope has requested that the Court treat as confidential, vis-à-vis the French Republic, intervener at first instance, certain information on page 7, paragraph 13, of its application at first instance (page 74 of the annexes to the appeal), on page 13, paragraphs 32 and 33, of that application (page 80 of the annexes to the appeal) and on page 701 of the annexes to that application (page 819 of the annexes to the appeal). To that end, PlasticsEurope has produced a non-confidential version of Annex P.3 to the appeal.

3        The information contained in Annex P.3 to the appeal, which the Court is asked to treat as confidential, is the same as the information contained in the application at first instance and in the annexes thereto, which PlasticsEurope had previously requested that the General Court, in Case T‑636/17, treat as confidential vis-à-vis the French Republic. By order of 5 March 2018, the General Court granted that request, without prejudice to the right of the French Republic to object to that request. It is stated in the judgment under appeal that that request was not opposed by the French Republic.

4        Article 171(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice provides that the appeal is to be served on the other parties to the relevant case before the General Court. Moreover, in accordance with Article 172 of those rules, any party to the relevant case before the General Court having an interest in the appeal being allowed or dismissed may submit a response within two months after service of the appeal on that party. It follows from those provisions that the appeal and the other procedural documents lodged before the Court of Justice are also to be served, in principle, on the parties given leave to intervene in the General Court.

5        However, it must be held, in a situation such as that now before the Court, where a party is requesting, vis-à-vis a party that intervened before the General Court, confidential treatment in respect of material produced before the Court of Justice which has previously been treated as confidential vis-à-vis that same party in the proceedings at first instance, that the same confidential treatment must, in principle, be maintained for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court of Justice (order of the President of the Court of 13 December 2016, Lundbeck v Commission, C‑591/16 P, not published, EU:C:2016:967, paragraph 5).

6        It follows from the foregoing that it is appropriate to grant the request of PlasticsEurope that the Court treat as confidential, vis-à-vis the French Republic, certain information contained in Annex P.3 to the appeal of PlasticsEurope, which is the same as that which, contained in the application at first instance of PlasticsEurope, and in the annexes to that application, has previously been treated as confidential in the case that gave rise to the judgment under appeal, and only the non-confidential version of those documents is to be served, by the Registrar, on the French Republic.

On those grounds, the President of the Court hereby orders:

1.      Confidential treatment is granted, vis-à-vis the French Republic, to certain information contained in Annex P.3 to the appeal of PlasticsEurope, which is the same as that which, contained in the application at first instance of PlasticsEurope, and in the annexes to that application, has previously been treated as confidential in the case that gave rise to the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 20 September 2019, PlasticsEurope v ECHA (T‑636/17, EU:T:2019:639), and only the non-confidential version of those documents shall be served, by the Registrar, on the French Republic.

2.      The costs are reserved.

Luxembourg, 14 February 2020.

*      Language of the case: English.

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