Home » Blog » European Decision on standards incorporated by Reference (IBR) – Malamud – March 5th, 2024

European Decision on standards incorporated by Reference (IBR) – Malamud – March 5th, 2024

Major judgment today in Europe by Carl Malamud and the European Commission. The judgment basically states that free public access to standards incorporated into European law is legitimate.Please note, I am not a lawyer. By my quick take is that Malamud won on all counts. The trend towards making standards incorporated by reference freely available will only continue.

The Court set aside the judgment of the General Court, annulled the Commission’s decision, and recognized an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the requested standards, as they form part of EU law due to their legal effects.The Commission was ordered to pay the costs, and the interveners were ordered to bear their own costs.

“In those circumstances, it must be held that there is an overriding public interest, within the meaning of the last clause of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001, justifying the disclosure of the requested harmonised standards.”

Case C‑588/21 P

At Nimonik we are working hard to add value to standards so that users of standards will want more than just the standard.

Read the Case C‑588/21 P full judgement here.

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