Search in ‘Judgments and decisions’

Headnotes

1. The publication of court rulings is a public task. It is a task of the judicial power derived directly from the constitution and therefore of every court. All rulings in the publication of which the public is or may be interested must be published. Rulings worthy of publication must be prepared for disclosure to the public by means of anonymisation or neutralisation.

2. Afterwards, the rulings do not need to be published by the courts themselves but their publication may also be left to the private initiative of interested persons including the judges involved in the ruling by means of an organisational act.

3. When disclosing court rulings for purposes of publication, the courts are subject to a neutrality obligation. This corresponds with a right of the publishers of specialist journals as well as other publication media to equal treatment in journalistic competition.

4. Court rulings must be sent to permanent subscribers simultaneously, as far as possible. In case of private third parties, including the judges in their private function, disclosing the rulings must not be organised in a way that leads to certain publishing houses having a competitive advantage.

5. When disclosing the rulings, no distinction must be made based on the academic standard of the press media to which the rulings are to be supplied.

Compatibility of section 13b BauGB with EU law

Headnote

section 13b BauGB is incompatible with article 3 (1) and (5) of Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (SEA Directive).

Interim protection against the planning approval decision for the new construction and operation of the energy transport line ETL 180 Brunsbüttel - Hetlingen (first construction section)

Headnotes

1. The waiver of the requirement to carry out an environmental impact assessment pursuant to section 4 (1) LNGG is compatible with EU law.

2. In the case of energy transport lines, the activities carried out by consumers with the energy (electricity or gas) at a later date are not to be included in the climate impact pursuant to section 13 (1) KSG.

Access to environmental information on the "Stuttgart 21" project - exception for internal communications

Headnotes

1. The exception rule laid down in article 4 (1) first subparagraph (e) EID covers information that circulates within a public authority and which, on the date of the application for access to information, has not left the public authority's internal sphere inter alia as a result of being disclosed to a third party or being made available to the public. The rule laid down in article 4 (1) first subparagraph (e) EID does not contain a limitation of its application in time (see CJEU, judgment of 20 January 2021 - C-619/19, Land Baden-Württemberg - para. 47 and 55 et seqq.).

2. The required weighing of the public interest in disclosure of the environmental information against the interest in refusing disclosure must, in particular, take into account the time that has passed since that internal communication and the information it contains were drawn up (see CJEU, judgment of 20 January 2021 - C-619/19, Land Baden-Württemberg - para. 64).

3. When considering the content of internal communications, a distinction must be made between the compilation of factual information and evaluative or tactical strategic considerations, the protection of which must be given particular weight in the weighing process.

4. Absent any proof to the contrary, concerning internal communications, it is not possible to determine a strict time limit beyond which the public interest in the disclosure of the environmental information outweighs the interest in its confidentiality. The conclusion reached in the assessment of the individual case shall remain decisive.