Resumen de Closed evidence in EU courts: security, secrets and access to justice

Vigjilenca Abazi, Christina Eckes

• In 2015, the General Court’s Rules of Procedure introduced for the first time an EU closed evidence procedure that allows the use of closed or semi-closed evidence, i.e. reliance on evidence that is not, or not fully, disclosed to the applicant. This article shows that the EU closed evidence procedure does not comply with the requirements of the ECHR where even the essence of the evidence is kept from the applicant. It also identifies procedural ambiguities where compliance with the ECHR depends on the interpretation of the Rules by the GC.The article further argues that as the Rules were not introduced through publicly debated law, but were drafted and developed mostly behind closed doors, they lack democratic legitimacy.