38So far as concerns the existence of an overriding public interest arising from the obligation of transparency in environmental matters, the General Court found, in paragraph 119 of the judgment under appeal, that both the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998 and approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2005/370/EC of 17 February 2005 (OJ 2005 L 124, p. 1) and Regulation No 1367/2006 provide for public access to environmental information either on request or as part of active dissemination by the authorities and institutions concerned. However, since those authorities and institutions may refuse a request for access to information where that information falls within the scope of a number of exceptions, they are under no obligation actively to disseminate that information.
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