15As regards Case T-110/03, the Court of First Instance held, as a preliminary point, in paragraphs 46 and 47 of the judgment under appeal:46 With regard to the scope of the Courts review of the legality of a decision refusing access, it should be noted that, in [Case T-14/98] Hautala v Council [[1999] ECR II-2489], paragraph 71, and [Case T-211/00] Kuijer v Council [[2002] ECR II-485], paragraph 53, the Court recognised that the Council enjoys a wide discretion in the context of a decision refusing access founded, as in this case, in part, on the protection of the public interest concerning international relations. In Kuijer v Council, such a discretion was conferred on an institution when it justifies its refusal of access by reference to the protection of the public interest in general. Thus, in areas covered by the mandatory exceptions to public access to documents, provided for in Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001, the institutions enjoy a wide discretion.47 Consequently, the Courts review of the legality of decisions of the institutions refusing access to documents on the basis of the exceptions relating to the public interest provided for in Article 4(1)(a) of Regulation No 1049/2001 must be limited to verifying whether the procedural rules and the duty to state reasons have been complied with, the facts have been accurately stated, and whether there has been a manifest error of assessment of the facts or a misuse of powers (see, by analogy, Hautala v Council, paragraphs 71 and 72, confirmed on appeal, and Kuijer v Council, paragraph 53)’.
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