Judgment_paragraph 68 · International Management Group (IMG) v European Commission (C-790/24 P)

68However, the Court has held that it is only exceptionally that the principle of openness will be capable of justifying, in judicial proceedings, the disclosure of a document of an institution that has not been released to the public and which contains a legal opinion. Thus, the retention, in the file of a particular case, of a document containing a legal opinion from an institution is not justified by any overriding public interest where, first, that legal opinion does not relate to a legislative procedure in respect of which increased openness is required and, second, the interest in the document’s retention consists, for the party which produced it, only in the ability to rely on that legal opinion in the context of a dispute. In such circumstances, the production of such a legal opinion appears to be guided by the applicant’s own interest in supporting its arguments and not by any overriding public interest, such as the interest in making public the procedure which resulted in the contested measure (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 February 2022, Hungary v Parliament and Council, C‑156/21, EU:C:2022:97, paragraph 56 and the case-law cited).

International Management Group (IMG) v European Commission (C-790/24 P)

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