The European Commission should have granted an NGO access to documents on pesticide approvals, an EU court ruled — the latest setback for the institution in a string of transparency battles.
The General Court in Luxembourg ruled Wednesday in favor of ClientEarth, an NGO that challenged the Commission’s refusal in 2021 to provide information it requested about the renewed approval of cypermethrin — a substance known to harm bees and fish.
The NGO had asked to see the positions shared by EU countries in closed-door meetings. The Commission argued that to do so could put the trust between itself and EU countries — and therefore the decision-making process — “under strain.”
The ruling could have broader implications for scrutiny of EU decision-making, pointing to limits on the Commission’s ability to keep countries’ positions confidential. It also adds to a growing line of cases testing how far transparency rules stretch when institutions argue disclosure could disrupt internal deliberations.
At EU level, country representatives and the Commission regularly authorize chemicals in private committee meetings through a procedure known as comitology — a system now likely to face fresh pressure in Brussels to open up, given its powerful yet often opaque role in shaping health and environmental rules.
“Disclosure would unsettle the functioning of the […] Committee and expose a difficult and lengthy decision-making process to further external pressure,” the Commission argued.
But the court said Wednesday that any risk of seriously undermining the decision-making process must be “reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical.” In other words, the court found that it is the Commission’s responsibility to explain how handing over the documents might jeopardize that process.
The ruling stopped short of a full victory for the green NGO, allowing the Commission to keep some litigation-related files secret in parallel EU court cases brought by industry against a ban on the fungicide mancozeb.
Nevertheless, ClientEarth called the ruling a “landmark win for transparency and nature.”
“Today’s judgment is a major step towards accountability and better protection for nature, including vital pollinators like bees,” Anne Friel, the NGO’s lawyer, said.
Wednesday’s ruling is the latest in a string of judgments where the General Court has found the Commission has not been forthcoming enough with access to documents.
In May 2025, the court found that the EU executive was wrong to block access to the text messages exchanged between Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the height of the Covid pandemic.
In 2024, the General Court also found that the Commission was not transparent enough when it published Covid vaccine contracts, choosing to redact large parts of the documents. The Commission is currently fighting that ruling at the EU’s top court.
The Commission did not immediately respond to request for comment. It has the option of appealing the decision at the higher-tier Court of Justice within the next two months and 10 days.
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