The Rules of Procedure of the General Court and secret evidence

21.6.2016

Question for written answer E-004981-16
to the Council
Rule 130
Javier Nart (ALDE) , Sophia in 't Veld (ALDE) , Jozo Radoš (ALDE) , Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE) , Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE) , Ivo Vajgl (ALDE) , María Teresa Giménez Barbat (ALDE) , Carolina Punset (ALDE) , Filiz Hyusmenova (ALDE) , Urmas Paet (ALDE) , Angelika Mlinar (ALDE) , Cecilia Wikström (ALDE) , Hilde Vautmans (ALDE) , Norica Nicolai (ALDE) , Marietje Schaake (ALDE)

On 10 February 2015, the General Court of the European Union (EGC) adopted a new draft of its Rules of Procedure, Article 105 of which states that when ‘a main party intends to base his claims on certain information but submits that its communication would harm the security of the Union or that of one or more of its Member States or the conduct of their international relations, he shall produce that information or material by a separate document’ in which he shall state the overriding reasons which justify the confidentiality of that information being preserved against its communication to the other main party. Furthermore, should the EGC decide that such information is relevant and confidential, its existence will not be communicated to the concerned party, who will only receive a non-confidential version of the information presented against him, the content of which would be decided by the main party.

Does the Council consider these new Rules of Procedure — which allow the EGC to base its resolutions on secret evidence — to be in line with the adversarial principle, which is the essence of a fair trial, and with Articles 20, 47 and 52 of the CFREU, Articles 6, 13 and 17 of the CPHRFF; and Article 14 of the ICCPR?