Esta es la versión HTML de un fichero adjunto a una solicitud de acceso a la información 'Memos, guidance and guidelines on record creation'.





 
Ref. Ares(2019)7120265 - 18/11/2019
Ref. Ares(2022)4615079 - 23/06/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION 
 
 
  The Director-General 
 
B1
  
 
 
 
NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF DG R&I DIRECTORS 
 
Subject: Handling requests for public access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 
1049/2001 
 
In view of ensuring compliance with the rules of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding 
public access to documents, it is my intention to improve the way access to documents 
requests are handled by our Directorate-General. This concerns notably:  
(1) compliance with legal deadlines; 
(2) efficient cooperation between the responsible unit(s) and the coordinating Access to 
documents legal team (unit B.1); 
(3) the quality of the reasoning for denying access to (parts of) documents.  
These improvements aim at minimising the risk of complaints to the Ombudsman and to 
the General Court. Therefore, I would like to remind you of our obligations in the treatment 
of requests for public access to documents and to bring to your attention the updated 
procedure to follow. It is indeed very important to avoid the risk of reputational damage in 
case of late or unsubstantiated replies, while at the same time to adequately protect the 
legitimate interests of the Commission and of third parties concerned by any potential 
disclosure of documents. 
Within our DG all requests for access to documents are handled centrally by the Access to 
documents legal team in the Common Legal Support Service B.1 (FMB: RTD-ACCESS-
xxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx). If a request for access to documents is addressed directly 
to an operational unit, the latter should transfer it to the Access to documents legal team as 
soon as possible1. This centralised team replies to applicants based on the contribution 
                                                 
1 Requests out of the scope of Regulation 1049/2001, such as requests for information, continue to be 
handled by the operational units, while the Access to documents team is available for advice and support. 
 
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx  

received by the responsible operational services and provides guidance to the responsible 
unit during the whole procedure2.  
In practice, this includes the following main steps: 
x  The Access to documents legal team (CLSS-B1) receives and registers the requests 
and identifies the responsible unit(s)/directorate with regard to documents falling 
within their remit, i.e. being in their possession, having their origin in the unit or 
falling otherwise under its responsibility.  
x  Within max. 2 working days from the allocation of the request the responsible 
operational unit should designate a case handler/contact point familiar with the 
subject of the request or should inform the Access to documents legal team in case it 
considers it is not the responsible unit for the requested documents. 
x  Within max. 5 working days from the allocation of the request the responsible 
operational unit should provide its contribution using the template note (see Annex 
1), which includes: 
a) 
Establishing a  list of the relevant existing documents 
b) 
Providing the original identified documents to the Access to documents legal 
team  
c) 
Providing the Access to documents legal team with an opinion of the 
documents (or parts) that should be released. In case it is requested that 
(parts of) documents should not be released, the units need to provide 
tangible arguments to support their arguments. 
x  Following the reception of the documents from the operational unit(s) and its 
opinion on their (non-) disclosure, the Access to documents team in B1 performs the 
legal assessment and prepares the reply to the applicant (this includes any potential 
redaction within the document(s) concerned in case of partial disclosure). The team 
also handles the intermediary correspondence with all relevant stakeholders 
including third party consultations, holding replies with extension of deadlines, 
requests for clarifications or narrowing wide scope requests, negotiation of fair 
solutions, etc. 
x  The Access to documents team in B1 replies to the applicant within 15 working 
days from the registration of the application. In exceptional cases (e.g. if the 
application concerns a very long document or a very large number of documents), 
this time limit may be extended once for further 15 working days. Therefore, it is 
crucial that the deadlines to send the contributions are respected by the responsible 
unit/directorate. If the operational unit cannot meet the 5 days deadline, it should 
inform immediately of the reasons for the delay (such as very long document, large 
number of documents, need to consult other services, etc.)  
x  In case of a confirmatory application3 before the Secretary General, B1 will defend 
the position of our DG’s reply with input from the responsible unit(s). 
                                                 
2 Detailed information on access to documents can be found on the intranet page of Access to Documents - 
https://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/dg/RTD/how-we-work/procedures-and-guidelines/Pages/Public-
Access-to-Documents.aspx 
3 In case of partial disclosure, no disclosure or ‘devoid of purpose’ (no documents held), the applicant is 
entitled to submit a confirmatory request (an appeal) to the Secretary General. 



 
Please circulate this note and procedure within your directorates to make sure that it is 
applied with priority.  
I expect that by following this procedure strictly we will improve the performance of our 
Directorate-General on this matter.   
 
Jean-Eric Paquet 
Enclosure: Annex 1 – Template for contribution to request for public access to 
documents 
 
 
 

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