Ta koncept, ki je že bil opisan v sodbah Sodišča prve stopnje v primeru Hercules in Cimenteries CBR [15], je bil potrjen in razvit v primeru Soda-pepel, v katerem je Sodišče menilo, da "v zagovarjanem postopku, za katerega Uredba št. 17 določa, da Komisija sama ne more odločati o tem, kateri dokumenti so koristni za obrambo.… Komisija mora dati svetovalcem zadevnih podjetij možnost vpogleda v dokumente, ki bi bili lahko pomembni, tako da je mogoče oceniti njihovo dokazno vrednost za obrambo."
This concept, already outlined in the Court of First Instance judgments in Hercules and Cimenteries CBR (15), was confirmed and developed in the Soda-ash case, where the Court held that 'in the defended proceedings for which Regulation No 17 provides it cannot be for the Commission alone to decide which documents are of use for the defence… The Commission must give the advisers of the undertaking concerned the opportunity to examine documents which may be relevant so that their probative value for the defence can be assessed.