Member States cannot invoke a public order exception so as to prevent the disclosure of the location of release of genetically modified organisms.The question referred to the ECJ was the definition of "location of release", which may or may not be kept confidential in accordance with Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release into the environment of GMOs.
Persons wishing to release GMOs into the environment were to submit certain information to competent national authorities when they wished to release GMOs into the environment. It followed from the connection between the notification procedure and the access to information relating to the deliberate release of GMOs that, save in the case of exemptions under the directive, the relevant public may request the disclosure of all information submitted by the notifier in the context of the authorisation procedure relating to that release. Accordingly the "location of release" was determined by all the information relating to the location of the release as submitted by the notifier to the competent authorities of the
Information relating to the location of the release could in no case be kept confidential, as the Directive precisely defines the confidentiality that could apply to the various information that is disclosed in the context of the notification procedure.
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