A right of access to harmonised technical standards for individuals
On 5 March 2024, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, notably on the basis of the principle of transparency, that individuals have a right of access to harmonised technical standards (case C-588/21 P | Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v Commission and others). This judgment sets aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 14 July 2021, which had upheld the European Commission’s refusal to grant such a right of access on the grounds that it was subject to certain limits based on reasons of public or private interest and that, in this case, granting a right of access would have undermined the protection of commercial interests through copyright in harmonised standards. The consequences of this judgment are threefold: (i) the CJEU confirms its case law in James Elliott Construction, C 613/14, in which it held that a harmonised standard forms part of EU law. This reinforces the hypothesis, in the near future, of a direct action for annulment against harmonised standards. (ii) By virtue of the principle of transparency, the typology of acts to which an individual or a company may have access now extends to harmonised standards. Conversely, the right of the EU institutions to rely on the existence of a public or private interest overriding the right of access to documents is diminished. (iii) the right of standardisation bodies, such as CEN and AFNOR, to provide harmonised standards drawn up by them against payment of a fee, now seems logically compromised.
