The European Union’s top court has ruled that documents containing details of trade negotiations can remain secret, a decision that comes as a blow to those seeking more transparency in the negotiation of the treaties that are increasingly affecting e-commerce, online privacy, Internet copyright and other uses of IT.

The Court of Justice of the European Union on Thursday ruled against campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) in a dispute document transparency. The group wanted the European Commission to share documents about a trade negotiation with India. However, the court upheld a ruling that allowed the European Commission to keep hidden from the public documents that it had shared with big corporate lobby groups.

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