A decision by the European Court of Justice on Wednesday in favor of disclosing confidential safety tests by large pesticide companies has sent shockwaves through the wider chemical industry.

The court’s decision dealt with two cases in which non-governmental organizations had been denied access to documents about pesticides on the grounds that the information was commercially sensitive.

Some lawyers argued that Wednesday’s rulings on what documents can be accessed set an important precedent and could radically shift the balance of power away from big business when authorities decide whether or not to release sensitive information such as confidential safety studies for pesticides and other industrial chemicals.

“The impact to any industry that can possibly pollute is that any study or test result has to be made available to the public if these tests are relevant to the actual toxicity, hazard, danger or risk the substance can have when used in real conditions,” said Vito Buonsante, a legal expert in health and environmental issues for ClientEarth, which seeks to protect the environment through litigation.

Buonsante explained that because the ECJ ruling deemed all safety tests and documents as potentially disclosable as long as they are related to actual or foreseeable “emissions,” the commercial interests of large businesses have been severely diminished. Crucially, pesticides can be viewed as a form of “emission.”

“Usually there is always a balance between commercial interests and that of the public interest. In this case, when you can prove that the information is about an emission, this balancing does not happen anymore. You prove it’s about an emission and the document goes out,” he said.

The Court ruling dealt with two related cases in which the European Commission and a court in the Netherlands declined access to documents to three NGOs on the grounds that the information was confidential.