Ref. Ares(2013)1404872 - 27/05/2013
Ref. Ares(2016)5476324 - 21/09/2016
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL COMMUNICATION
Director-General
Brussels
COMM
NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF HEADS OF REPRESENTATION AND HEADS OF UNIT
Subject:
Access to documents
I am writing to you by way of reminder of the
procedures to be followed when we
receive a request for access to documents.
According to the provisions laid down in Article 15(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union, any citizen has a right of access to documents of the EU’s
institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. These provisions are further detailed in
Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council
and Commission documents.
Against this legal background, any request for information involving access to a
Commission or a third-party document should be dealt with according to the following
procedure:
• The above Regulation applies only to requests for access to
existing documents,
i.e. “any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic
form or as a sound, visual or audio-visual recording) concerning a matter relating
to the policies, activities and decisions falling within the institution's sphere of
responsibility” (Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001).
If the request relates to information which is not contained in documents, it
should be considered as a mere request for information to be processed in
accordance with the provisions laid down in the Code of Good Administrative
Behaviour.2
Please note that a request for information may also contain a demand for access to
a specific document related to the information in question, to be treated
separately.
Should a parliamentary question contain a request for access to documents the
procedure is twofold: the parliamentary question should be processed by the
competent service in DG COMM, which should inform C.1 of the request for
documents. This request should be registered in GESTDEM and answered
separately.
1 http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:145:0043:0048:EN:PDF
2 https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/hr admin/en/code/Pages/conduct.aspx
Commission européenne, B-1000 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1000 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: +32 2 299 11 11
Office: LOI 56 06/007. Telephone: direct line +32 2 299 94 34
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication
• A copy of the request for access to documents should be sent, as soon as possible,
to the team in charge of access to documents in DG COMM, which will register
the request in GESTDEM (shared database for applications for access to
documents) and will send an acknowledgement of receipt to the applicant
(COMM ACCESS DOCUMENTS mailbox).
Unit C.1 is the service in DG COMM responsible for managing all the requests
for access to documents
(contact person:
). They will
see with you how best to proceed with each specific request. In fact it may well
be the case that in view of the technical nature of the issue at stake, a
Representation itself would be best placed to provide a reply, but always in full
coordination with C1.
• Under the principle of transparency, citizens are entitled to the widest possible
access to Commission documents (Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001)
o
A reply must be sent to the applicant, in writing and in the language in which
the application was submitted,
within 15 working days from the date on
which the application was registered by the access to documents team.
o
Should additional time be needed to deal with the request, you should send
the applicant a message, before the expiry of the 15-day deadline, notifying
them of the extension and giving reasons for the new deadline. Failure to
reply within the prescribed time limit constitutes a tacit refusal and entitles
the applicant to make a confirmatory application.
o
If you are unable to identify the document(s) asked for you should ask the
applicant to provide you with additional information which will enable you to
identify the document or to narrow the request. In that case, the 15-working
day deadline for reply will apply only from the date by which you receive
this new information.
o
If you think the request is disproportionate: inform the applicant in writing,
referring to Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, and confer with a
view to finding a fair solution.
• In principle, no document is spared the detailed examination of its contents, even
if it is ‘classified’.
o
If this examination indicates that a classified document must be disclosed, it
will first have to be declassified.3
o
The disclosure to third parties of personal data is covered by Regulation
45/2001. The consent of the person in question or a need to disclose such
data is required.
• In the event of total or partial
refusal the answer must:
o
clearly indicate the grounds for the refusal based on one of the exceptions
listed in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and set out specific and
detailed arguments justifying the refusal;
o
inform the applicant of his/her right to appeal to the Secretary-General of the
Commission (article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001: confirmatory
application), who will then take a final decision on behalf of the Commission.
3 https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/corp/security/EN/Pages/index.aspx
2
The applicant can then challenge this decision either by filling a complaint to
the Ombudsman or by appeal to the Tribunal.
If only part of the document requested is covered by one or more of the
exceptions listed in the Regulation, you must release the remaining parts (partial
access) and give reasons for the partial refusal as above.
• When
documents from third parties or Member States are involved they should
be consulted to obtain their opinion (or their agreement in the case of a MS) on
whether the document may be disclosed. Third party objection to disclosure is
tantamount to refusal for access to the document or the parts of the document
concerned. The Commission can decide to disregard the opposition of a third
party only at the stage of the confirmatory application.
• Positive replies can be signed by any official to whom the Director-General has
delegated this power.
Negative replies (total or partial) must be signed by the
Director-General
:
https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/corp/sg/fr/docinter/Pages/links.aspx.
In view of the above, I would appreciate that
you appoint an official in each
Representation and Unit who would act as the
contact point for any request for access to
documents and who could, in turn, liaise with Unit C.1 at the headquarters. Please
provide the name of your contact person to
(e-signed)
Gregory Paulger
Copy: J.-P. Vandersteen, S. Bouygues, Y. Tiveus G. Zupko,
3