Judgment_paragraph 42 · The Health Food Manufacturers' Association and Others v European Commission (T-296/12)

42Next, the Court must reject the Commission’s claim, made both in its responses to the measures of organisation of procedure and at the hearing, that the documents produced by the applicants lack probative value. The Court points out, in that regard, that, pursuant to settled case-law, the activity of the Court of Justice and of the General Court is governed by the principle of the unfettered evaluation of evidence, and that it is only the reliability of the evidence furnished which is decisive when it comes to the assessment of its value. Moreover, in order to assess the probative value of a document, regard should be had to the credibility of the account it contains. Regard should also be had, in particular, to the person from whom the document originates, the circumstances in which it came into being, the person to whom it was addressed and whether, on its face, the document appears to be sound and reliable (see, to that effect, judgment of 27 September 2012 in Shell Petroleum and Others v Commission, T‑343/06, ECR, EU:T:2012:478, paragraph 161 and the case-law cited). In the present case, first, the documents produced by the applicants are declarations signed by the directors of the applicants, who are deemed to be in a position to be able to provide precise details in response to the information requested, secondly, the documents were requested specifically by the Court and, thirdly, they were submitted via the lawyer representing the applicants in their action, who, as a collaborator in the administration of justice and as a result of the ethical requirements to which he is subject, is required to ensure the authenticity and veracity of those documents. Accordingly, the Court considers that the credibility of those documents is sufficiently established. Moreover, even though the Commission challenges the veracity of those documents as a whole, it has not furnished any evidence to suggest that the detailed information on the list produced by the applicants, in the context of measures of organisation of procedure, is false.