ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS: WWF TAKES COUNCIL TO COURT FOR WITHHOLDING WTO POLICY PAPER.

A document entitled "WTO - Sustainability and Trade after Cancun" is at the centre of a row between the EU Council of Ministers and global conservation organisation WWF. The eco-lobby's European Policy Office decided on June 30 to take the Council to the Court of First Instance for refusing to release the document, which dates from December 2003. Apart from demanding at least partial disclosure, the WWF complains about the lack of transparency of the Council working group that held the policy paper, the trade-specialising Article 133 Committee.

WWF legal advisor Carol Hatton told Europe Information that Council rejected its initial request on March 17, 2004 on grounds that disclosure could undermine the EU's commercial interests and economic relations with non-EU countries. These are legitimate reasons for refusal, according to Regulation 1049/2001 on access to EU documents. Her organisation made a confirmatory request but that was rejected too, on April 13. "We do not really see why this document is so sensitive that all of it has to be withheld. We also feel...