#62024TJ0185EU General Court backs Commission refusal to disclose insurance-supervision investigation files
AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.
The judgment confirms that the Commission can refuse access to documents exchanged during an EU-level investigation into whether Slovakia’s insurance supervisor complied with EU law. The Court accepted that releasing the files could harm the ongoing investigation and related follow-up steps, including possible infringement action. This matters for insurers, financial supervisors, and companies seeking EU transparency requests during active regulatory disputes. It signals that investigation files may stay confidential until the underlying supervisory process and related national proceedings are effectively over.
AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.
Key Changes
- The Court upheld the Commission’s refusal to disclose documents from an ongoing EU insurance-supervision investigation.
- The judgment confirms that follow-up measures and related national court challenges can keep an investigation confidential.
- General transparency arguments or a company’s private litigation interest were not enough to override confidentiality.
Obligations
What this law requires
EU institutions must refuse access to a document under Article 4(2), third indent, of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 where disclosure would undermine the protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations, or audits, unless an overriding public interest justifies disclosure.
When refusing access to documents, an EU institution must provide reasons that clearly and unequivocally disclose its reasoning so that the requester can understand the refusal and the EU court can review it.
An EU institution may rely on more than one exception under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 when assessing a request for access to documents, provided the refusal is properly reasoned.
Where the same facts are used to justify multiple exceptions to access, the institution must explain how disclosure would specifically and actually undermine each protected interest relied on.
EIOPA may initiate an investigation under Article 17(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 to determine whether a national competent authority has complied with EU law in exercising insurance supervisory powers.