 The reading by prosecutors, at a final trial hearing in a complex fraud case, of documents which were material to the case combined with a refusal of an adjournment to enable the defence to study those documents.58 C. RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE DIRECTIVE The Directive covers the question of access to the case file through Article 7, which provides: ‘1. Where a person is arrested and detained at any stage of the criminal proceedings, Member States shall ensure that documents related to the specific case in the possession of the competent authorities which are essential to challenging effectively, in accordance with national law, the lawfulness of the arrest or detention, are made available to arrested persons or to their lawyers. 2. Member States shall ensure that access is granted at least to all material evidence in the possession of the competent authorities, whether for or against suspects or accused persons, to those persons or their lawyers in order to safeguard the fairness of the proceedings and to prepare the defence. 3. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, access to the materials referred to in paragraph 2 shall be granted in due time to allow the effective exercise of the rights of the defence and at the latest upon submission of the merits of the accusation to the judgment of a court. Where further material evidence comes into the possession of the competent authorities, access shall be granted to it in due time to allow for it to be considered. 4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, provided that this does not prejudice the right to a fair trial, access to certain materials may be refused if such access may lead to a serious threat to the life or the fundamental rights of another person or if such refusal is strictly necessary to safeguard an important public interest, such as in cases where access could prejudice an ongoing investigation or seriously harm the national security of the Member State in which the criminal proceedings are instituted. Member States shall ensure that, in accordance with procedures in national law, a decision to refuse access to certain materials in accordance with this paragraph is taken by a judicial authority or is at least subject to judicial review. 5. Access, as referred to in this Article, shall be provided free of charge.’ As with Article 6, these provisions led themselves to several possible interpretations and will need to be clarified by the CJEU. We will consider these when looking at the different issues relating to access to the case file discussed above. 57 58 Öcalan v. Turkey, cited above note 16, paragraph 147. Case of Gregacevic v. Croatia, App. no. 58331/09 (Judgment of 10 July 2012), paragraph 57. 35