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EEAS(2016) 401 
Ref. Ares(2016)1955902 - 25/04/2016
 
 
EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE 
 
 
           Parliamentary Affairs Division 
 
 
 
 
Report of the European External Action Service 
On Access to Documents 
2015 
 
 
EEAS(2016)401 
of 20/04/2016 
 
 
 
EEAS(2016) 401  [SG.AFFGEN.2 - Parliamentary Affairs Division] 

 

EEAS(2016) 401 
 
 
ANNUAL REPORT ON ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS 
FOR 2015 
 
 
 

A. Introduction 
 
Article 17.1 of Regulation (EC) n° 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and 
Commission documents 1 (hereafter referred to as “the Regulation”) provides that “Each 
institution shall publish annually a report for the preceding year including the number of 
cases in which the institution refused to grant access to documents, the reasons for such 
refusals and the number of sensitive documents not recorded in the register.”
  
 
 
B. Regulatory, administrative and practical measures 
 
The legal and administrative basis for access to documents held by the EEAS is the 
HR/VP's Decision of 19 July, 2011. It should be noted that, as of 16 September 2015, 
handling of requests for access to documents was attributed to the Division for 
Parliamentary Affairs, (SG.AFFGEN.2). 
 
 
C. Key developments 
 
Article 11 (1) of the Regulation (EC) N° 1049/2001 regarding public access to European 
Parliament, Council and Commission documents provides that "[…] each institution shall 
provide public access to a register of documents. Access to the register should be 
provided in electronic form.
 […]". 
 
On 19 December 2014 the Chief Operating Officer / Director General for Budget and 
Administration of the EEAS issued the decision EEAS DEC(2014) 051, which 
established the register of official documents of the EEAS and created the function of a 
Registrar as from 1st January 2015. 
 
The decision stipulated that the Register shall be made publicly accessible on the EEAS 
website, which shall also contain information on how to search and access documents. 
 
This e-EEAS Register was set up in the beginning of the year and entered into force in 
mid-February 2015. Therefore, all documents that are registered in the new e-EEAS 
Register are only dated from 2015 onwards.  
 
                                                 
1  
OJ L145, 31.5.2001, p. 43. 
 
EEAS(2016) 401  [SG.AFFGEN.2 - Parliamentary Affairs Division] 

 

EEAS(2016) 401 
 
 
D. Initial applications for access to documents 
 
The following table indicates the number of initial applications processed by the EEAS in 
2015. 
 
 
Number of initial requests received 
Q1  
67 
Q2  
51 
Q3  
26 
Q4  
19 
Total 2015 
163 
of which 70 requests (43%) came from the academic sector 
 
A positive reply and full access to the documents requested was given to 66% of the 
initial applications (107 requests). 
 
Partial access was given to 15% of the initial applications (24 requests).  
 
12% of the cases (20 requests) were subject to a full refusal.  
 
For 12 requests, additional information was asked from the requestor in order to better 
understand what the s/he was looking for, yet no answer was received. 
 
The grounds for (partial or total) refusal most frequently evoked were 2: 
•  The protection of the public interest as regards international relations (Art. 4(1)(a)  
third indent) for 57% of the cases (25 requests); 
•  The protection of the public interest as regards defence and military matters (Art. 
4(1)(a)  second indent) for 20% of the cases (9 requests); 
•  The protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual (Art. 4(1)(b)) for 18 
% of the cases (8 requests); 
•  The protection of the public interest as regards public security (Art. 4(1)(a)  first 
indent) for 4% of the cases (2 request); 
•  The protection of the commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including 
intellectual property (Art. 4(2)) for 2% of the cases (1 request); 
•  The institution’s decision-making process where the decision has not yet been 
taken (Art. 4(3)) for 2% of the cases (1 request). 
 
 
 
                                                 
2  
The percentages given are that of the cases for which the document(s) was/were partially or totally 
refused, i.e. a total of 44 cases in 2015. 
 
EEAS(2016) 401  [SG.AFFGEN.2 - Parliamentary Affairs Division] 

 


EEAS(2016) 401 
 
 
E. Cooperation with other Institutions for access to documents 
 
During 2015, the EEAS was consulted 10 times by the competent service of the 
Secretariat General of the European Commission. The EEAS has also answered directly 
to numerous requests for which the Commission indicated to the requestor that the 
competence has been transferred to the EEAS. 
 
The EEAS has been consulted regularly (87 times in 2015) by the transparency service of 
the General Secretariat of the Council, mainly on documents that were produced under 
the responsibility of services that were transferred from the General Secretariat of the 
Council to the EEAS at the time when the EEAS was set up. In addition, several 
consultations concerning documents produced after 1 January, 2011, when the EEAS was 
established. 
 
There were also a few occurrences when the EEAS consulted the General Secretariat of 
the Council or specific DGs of the Commission, since they had produced documents held 
by the EEAS. Extensive consultation between institutions occurred on requests for access 
to documents relating to the various regimes of restrictive measures, as well as on 
requests for privileged access and/or access to personal data, which had been sent in 
parallel to several institutions. 
 
 
F. Consultation of third parties 
 
In accordance with Art. 4(4), third States’ administrations were consulted at several 
occasions with regard to requests for access to documents and correspondence held by the 
EEAS, but originating from a third State. 
 
 
G. Confirmatory applications for access to documents 
 
In 2015, the Chief Operating Officer of the EEAS examined eleven confirmatory 
requests: 
•  The refusal to grant access to the documents requested was confirmed in five 
cases, 
•  In six cases an extended partial access was given to the requested documents. 
 
 
H. Further recourse concerning access to documents requests 
 
In 2015, there was no occurrence neither of a court proceeding nor of a complaint to the 
Ombudsman against the EEAS regarding the implementation of Regulation in 1049/2001. 
 
 
______________________ 
 
EEAS(2016) 401  [SG.AFFGEN.2 - Parliamentary Affairs Division] 
Electronically signed on 25/04/2016 17:26 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563