A member of the public requesting access to UPC documents must be represented

The UPC Court of Appeal has held that a member of the public who is requesting access to the Register pursuant to R.262.1(b) RoP must be represented before the UPC.

The appellant Ocado Innovation Ltd had not objected to the Respondent being without representative, but the issue was raised by the Court of Appeal. As part of its reasons, the Court held that the requirement to be represented by a representative “is to protect parties when it comes to the legal consequences of procedural measures” and to ensure “the proper conduct of proceedings”. The Court also held that members of the public requesting access to the register are “in an adversarial situation where representation is called for”. The Court has given the respondent 14 days to instruct a representative. The hearing regarding the question of whether access to documents shall be granted will take place on 12 March 2024.

A practical consequence of the decision is that members of the public, such as journalists, seeking to get access to documents not published by the UPC need to engage a UPC representative.

Sandart & Partners lead by partner Anna Bladh Redzic is representing Ocado Innovation Limited in the matter together with Simon Ayrton, Tom Oliver and Joel Coles at Powell Gilbert and Anne Marie Verschuur at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

UPC Court of Appeal Order 8 February 2024 concerning representation Pdf, 129.6 kB.