#62021TJ0359EU General Court Rules on Access to Pesticide Documents: ClientEarth v European Commission (Case T-359/21)

On 25 March 2026, the General Court of the European Union (Ninth Chamber) issued its judgment in Case T-359/21, brought by environmental NGO ClientEarth AISBL against the European Commission. The case concerned the Commission's partial refusal to grant access to documents related to the active pesticide substances mancozeb and cypermethrin, specifically the individual positions of EU Member States expressed within the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF). The Commission had invoked exceptions under Article 4(2) and 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to EU documents, arguing that disclosure would undermine the protection of its decision-making process and ongoing court proceedings. ClientEarth challenged this refusal, asserting that an overriding public interest in transparency — particularly regarding the safety assessment of widely used agrochemicals — justified full disclosure. The Court examined whether the Commission correctly applied the cited exceptions and whether ClientEarth had demonstrated an overriding public interest sufficient to override those protections. The judgment addresses the balance between institutional transparency, the integrity of regulatory and judicial processes, and citizens' rights to access documents held by EU institutions. This ruling has significant implications for transparency in EU pesticide regulation and the extent to which Member State positions in comitology committees can be shielded from public scrutiny under the access-to-documents framework.

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