Public access to written pleadings and evidence
Following the hearing of 12 March 2024 in Luxembourg (see here), the UPC Court of Appeal set the reasons to allow public access to written documents in proceedings before the UPC. The decision of case UPC_CoA_404/2023 issued on 10 April 2024 states in particular that everything comprised in a proceeding, including written pleadings and evidence, shall generally be provided to third parties upon request.
However, the request might not be allowed in a case where there are specific interests to confidentiality, in particular where those interests have a higher weight than those of the third party. In order to allow the judge-rapporteur to balance all the interests of the public and the parties about confidentiality, the request should therefore set out the reasons of the interested third party. Special weight is given, in particular, to the integrity of the proceedings. If the integrity is not threatened, the balance is in favor of allowing access, subject to the protection of personal data and confidential information.
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