Judgment_paragraph 76 · WWF European Policy Programme v Council of the European Union (T-264/04)

76Secondly, case-law provides that the concept of a document must be distinguished from that of information. The public s right of access to the documents of the institutions covers only documents and not information in the wider meaning of the word and does not imply a duty on the part of the institutions to reply to any request for information from an individual (see, by analogy, the order in Case T-106/99 Meyer v Commission [1999] ECR II-3273, paragraphs 35 and 36). It is true that it is apparent from the judgment in Council v Hautala, cited in paragraph 50 above, that Council Decision 93/731/EC of 20 December 1993 on public access to Council documents (OJ 1993 L 340, p. 43), which preceded Regulation No 1049/2001, covered not only documents held by the institutions as such but also information contained within those documents (paragraph 23 of the judgment). However, access to information — within the meaning of that judgment — may be granted only if that information is contained within documents, which presupposes that such documents exist.

WWF European Policy Programme v Council of the European Union (T-264/04)

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