The Court of Justice confirms: the right to be heard does not apply to acts of general application

By Junior Geysens

The Court of Justice of the European Union has recently reaffirmed that the right to be heard does not apply to acts of general application — even if such an act essentially affects only one company.

In the ‘Zippo’ case (C‑811/23 P, 29 January 2026), the Court of Justice set aside the judgment of the General Court of 18 October 2023 that had extended the right to be heard to an American company severely hit by EU rebalancing tariffs.

The Court of Justice was clear: the general principle of the right to be heard, as enshrined in Article 41 of the Charter, does not apply to acts of general application. The fact that such an act severely affects the interests of a particular person or company, or that in practice only one person or company is affected, is irrelevant in this regard and does not trigger the right to be heard.

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