Ref. Ares(2016)5450595 - 20/09/2016
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
SECRETARIAT-GENERAL 
  
Directorate B 
  SG-B-3 
Archiving systems and historical archives 
 
Brussels, 30 June 2004 
SG.B.3/MH D (2004) 5794 
WARNING: This manual is not yet adapted to the document SEC (2009) 1643 on the 
recast of the implementing rules for the decision on document management and the 
decision on electronic documents and digitized. 
 
 
 
DOCUMENT REGISTRATION MANUAL 
 
 
Version 1.0 
 
 
 
Adopted by SG.B.3 on 30 June 2004 
 

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1. 
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................4 
2. 
FORMAT.............................................................................................................................................5 
3. 
BASIC DEFINITIONS .......................................................................................................................6 
3.1. 
DOCUMENT ..................................................................................................................................6 
3.1.1. 
What is a document?...............................................................................................................6 
3.1.2. 
When is a document considered formally drawn up?.............................................................6 
3.1.3. 
When is a document considered received? .............................................................................6 
4. 
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DOCUMENT REGISTRATION ..........................................................8 
4.1. 
PURPOSE.......................................................................................................................................8 
4.1.1. 
Why register?..........................................................................................................................8 
4.1.2. 
Which are the “minimum requirements” regarding form? ....................................................9 
4.1.3. 
When is a document presented for registration “in accordance with an established or 
generally recognised procedure”? .....................................................................................................10 
4.2. 
REGISTRATION AND LISTING IN AN INVENTORY ..........................................................................11 
4.2.1. 
Which documents must be registered?..................................................................................11 
4.2.2. 
Which documents may be listed in an inventory? .................................................................12 
4.2.3. 
Can a document be registered or listed more than once? ....................................................13 
4.2.4. 
Are there documents that do not have to be registered? ......................................................13 
4.2.5. 
When does a document have to be registered?.....................................................................14 
4.2.6. 
Are there documents exchanged within a department that must be registered?...................14 
4.2.7. 
Why is registration important for public access to documents? ...........................................14 
4.3. 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGISTRATION AND DOCUMENT WORKFLOW? ...................16 
4.4. 
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGISTRATION AND DOCUMENT STORAGE? .......................16 
5. 
REGISTRATION IN PRACTICE ..................................................................................................17 
5.1. 
WHICH ARE THE PRACTICAL OPERATIONS OF REGISTRATION? ....................................................17 
5.2. 
IF A DOCUMENT IS BOTH LISTED AND REGISTERED, WHICH NUMBER SHOULD IT BEAR? ..............17 
5.3. 
STEP-BY-STEP ANALYSIS OF A DOCUMENT..................................................................................18 
5.3.1. 
Analysis of a drawn up document .........................................................................................19 
5.3.2. 
Analysis of a received document...........................................................................................21 
5.3.3. 
Analysis to check if a document falls under the exceptions to registration ..........................22 
5.4. 
RULES FOR ENCODING ESSENTIAL DESCRIPTIVE DATA (METADATA)...........................................24 
5.4.1. 
General rules ........................................................................................................................24 
5.4.2. 
General rules for encoding dates..........................................................................................24 
5.4.3. 
Date of the document ............................................................................................................25 
5.4.4. 
Date of registration...............................................................................................................25 
5.4.5. 
Registration number (unique identifier) ...............................................................................25 
5.4.6. 
Author of the document.........................................................................................................26 
5.4.7. 
Department or body to which an author belongs .................................................................27 
5.4.8. 
Addressee of the document ...................................................................................................27 
5.4.9. 
Department or body to which an addressee belongs ............................................................28 
5.4.10. 
Level of security classification of the document...............................................................28 
5.4.11. 
Security designators and markings of the document........................................................28 
5.4.12. 
Title or subject of the document .......................................................................................29 
5.4.13. 
Type of document concerned............................................................................................30 
5.4.14. 
Relevant heading of the filing plan ..................................................................................30 
5.4.15. 
File title ............................................................................................................................30 
5.4.16. 
Number of attachments ....................................................................................................31 
5.4.17. 
Brief description of attachments ......................................................................................31 
6. 
PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA .........................................................................................32 
7. 
REGISTRATION OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ...................................................................33 
7.1. 
EU CLASSIFIED INFORMATION (EUCI) DOCUMENTS ..................................................................33 
7.2. 
SECURITY MARKINGS .................................................................................................................34 
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DEFINITIONS ..................................................................................................................................35 
8.1. 
DOCUMENT ................................................................................................................................35 
8.1.1. 
What is a document?.............................................................................................................35 
8.1.2. 
Is there such a thing as an official document? .....................................................................35 
8.1.3. 
How can an individual document unit be identified? ...........................................................36 
8.1.4. 
When is a document considered formally drawn up?...........................................................37 
8.1.5. 
What happens if a document is registered but not transmitted?...........................................38 
8.1.6. 
What is a document for continuous use? When is it drawn up? ...........................................39 
8.1.7. 
When is a document considered received? ...........................................................................39 
8.1.8. 
When is a document considered important and not short-lived? .........................................40 
8.2. 
DESCRIPTIVE DATA (METADATA) ...............................................................................................43 
8.2.1. 
What is descriptive data (metadata)? ...................................................................................43 
8.2.2. 
What is essential descriptive data?.......................................................................................43 
8.3. 
REGISTER AND INVENTORY ........................................................................................................44 
8.3.1. 
What is a register, what is an inventory and what is the difference between them?.............44 
8.4. 
WHAT TYPES OF REGISTERS ARE THERE AT THE COMMISSION? ..................................................45 
8.4.1. 
Primary registers ..................................................................................................................45 
8.4.2. 
Secondary registers ..............................................................................................................47 
9. 
GLOSSARY.......................................................................................................................................49 
9.1. 
ENGLISH–FRENCH ......................................................................................................................49 
9.2. 
FRANÇAIS–ANGLAIS ...................................................................................................................50 
10. 
LEGAL BASIS / SOURCE DOCUMENTS...............................................................................51 
11. 
ANNEX 1 (LIST OF VERSIONS)..............................................................................................53 
12. 
ANNEX 2 (TRANSLITERATION TABLES) ...........................................................................54 
12.1. 
SYMBOLS....................................................................................................................................54 
12.2. 
FRENCH ......................................................................................................................................54 
12.3. 
ITALIAN......................................................................................................................................54 
12.4. 
GERMAN AND ESTONIAN............................................................................................................54 
12.5. 
ICELANDIC..................................................................................................................................54 
12.6. 
NORDIC LANGUAGES ..................................................................................................................55 
12.7. 
SLAVONIC LANGUAGES THAT USE THE ROMAN ALPHABET..........................................................55 
12.8. 
SPANISH .....................................................................................................................................55 
12.9. 
GREEK ALPHABET.......................................................................................................................56 
12.10. 
CYRILLIC ALPHABET..............................................................................................................57 
 
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1. INTRODUCTION 
Document management in the European Commission is currently undergoing a 
number of important changes, following new legislation1 adopted over the last few 
years. As directed by this legislation, implementing rules on respectively document 
registration and filing2 have been adopted by the Secretary-General in agreement 
with the Director-General for Personnel and Administration. 
Document management is part of our daily work and concerns just about everyone 
in the Commission. This manual should therefore be easily understandable also by 
non-document management professionals. Reading this manual will not replace 
reading the documents on which it is based (particularly not for legal or normative 
interpretation) but it should be a one-stop information source for anyone wishing or 
needing to understand the registration aspects of document management in the 
Commission. Furthermore, the manual is not intended only to compile and present 
information from the documents on which it’s based, but to present an interpretation 
of this information and, where needed, provide completing rules and definitions. 
Thus the manual aims to explain how to understand, interpret, and in general terms 
put into practice the implementing rules for document registration. However, it is 
not a step-by-step handbook for any specific registration software or system (e.g. 
Adonis). This must be provided by other documents. Also, it will not touch upon 
questions of filing, nor of archival storage and transfer. 
In other words, the aim is to consolidate and explain, simply and comprehensively, 
the implementing rules on registration as well as underlying or related legislation, 
and to make clear the general rules which must be respected by any document 
registration or management system, and by anyone registering documents in such 
systems. 
As part of these general rules, the manual will also lay down rules and syntax 
concerning the encoding of essential descriptive data (metadata). 
                                                 
 
 
1   See the list of source documents in chapter 10. 
2  See chapter 10, points (1) and (2). 
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2. FORMAT 
This manual is mainly based on a question-and-answer format. Where necessary, 
answers will be illustrated by giving concrete and realistic examples. 
Sufficient references will be given for anyone who needs or wishes to find or 
consult the corresponding parts of the source documents. To avoid burdening the 
text, such references will, to the extent possible, be given in footnotes. The full titles 
of the source documents are listed in chapter 10, together with a brief description of 
how these documents are interrelated. 
Finally, many of the source documents on document management use the term 
institutions3. For the sake of simplicity this manual will most of the time replace 
institutions with Commission. Further, unless clearly stated otherwise, Commission 
will be used in the broad sense of the word to signify not only the college of 
commissioners but also the entire organisation or, depending on circumstances, 
parts of it. 
                                                 
 
 
3   In the context of regulation (EC) 1049/2001 institutions means the European Parliament, the Council 
and the Commission. 
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3. BASIC DEFINITIONS 
3.1.  Document 
3.1.1. 
What is a document?4 
For the purposes of this manual, a document is any content independent of 
medium5, which concerns the policies, activities and decisions of the Commission. 
In other words, it does not matter if it is text written on paper or in an e-mail, sound 
registered on a tape, or pictures stored in an electronic format on a CD-ROM. No 
matter what type of information, what format, what physical support, as long as it 
concerns the work of the Commission it is a document. 
For more details, see 8.1.1, 8.1.2 and 8.1.3. 
3.1.2. 
When is a document considered formally drawn up?6 
A document is considered formally drawn up when it has been approved as ready 
by the author and is ready for formal transmission. 
For more details, see 8.1.4. 
3.1.3. 
When is a document considered received?7 
 
A document is considered received when it is available to the service(s) for which 
it is intended. 
Available means that the document has arrived at the premises of the service, or has 
been handed to an official competent to deal with the document, or has been made 
intentionally available to the service through an information system. 
Tenders, or similar documents, sent under sealed cover to be opened at a certain 
date and hour obviously cannot be registered until this date and hour has arrived and 
                                                 
 
 
4   Provisions on document management, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2002/47/EC, articles 1 and 4. 
5   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 3. The following media are explicitly mentioned: written on 
paper; stored in electronic form; sound, visual or audio-visual recording. 
6   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
7   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
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link to page 38 they have been opened. After opening they are considered received on the date of 
the postmark. 
For more details, see 8.1.7. 
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4. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DOCUMENT REGISTRATION 
4.1.  Purpose 
4.1.1. 
Why register? 8 
There are several reasons why Commission documents have to be registered. 
Broadly speaking, they fall into three categories. 
(1) 
A very important purpose of document registration in the Commission is to 
certify transmission with due regard to established forms and procedures. 
This means certifying that a document has been sent at a given date from an 
author to a recipient, or received at a given date by a recipient. Often, the 
recipient is a person or an organisational entity (or both). 
A document that is not sent to a person or organisation is nevertheless 
considered transmitted when it is incorporated into an archiving/information 
system (see 8.1.4). 
No matter what form transmission takes, registration must also certify that a 
document fulfils certain conditions concerning form (see 4.1.2) and has been 
presented for registration according to established procedures (see 4.1.3). 
Also, registration must ensure that a document received or formally drawn 
up is integrated in the Commission’s document management system. 
(2) 
Registration must also fulfil certain internal needs for efficient document 
management. 
One such need (equally important to certifying transmission) is the ability to 
identify with certainty a document formally drawn up or received by the 
Commission. 
A second need is to guarantee that such a document can be traced 
throughout its life cycle, that is to say from the moment it was received or 
formally drawn up, through its time of active use and intermediate storage 
until it is either eliminated or permanently stored. 
A third need is to attribute a document for action, follow-up, information or 
storage. This links registration of a document to its workflow processing. 
                                                 
 
 
8   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
point IV; Provisions on document management, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission 
by Commission Decision No 2002/47/EC, article 4; Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 11. 
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link to page 14 (3) 
Finally, the Commission has a legal obligation to make citizens’ rights under 
regulation 1049/2001 effective by providing public access to a register of 
documents (see 4.2.7). 
4.1.2. 
Which are the “minimum requirements” regarding form? 
One purpose of registration is to certify that a document fulfils established or 
generally recognised minimum requirements regarding form.9 
The form expected of a document depends on the kind of document, on the identity 
of author and recipient, on its content and the context in which it is sent, etc. 
For example, one would expect a formal communication from the Council to the 
Commission to be highly formalised, on the proper letterhead, containing certain set 
phrases, properly signed and perhaps carrying certain stamps. If some or all of these 
elements are missing or seem wrong, there would be reason to suspect that the 
document is not what it purports to be. 
At the other end of the form scale, a letter from a child writing to the Commission as 
part of a school project could take just about any form. It might be handwritten, 
perhaps with coloured pencils, on any kind of paper, being incompletely or 
incorrectly addressed, etc., but it might also be neatly laser printed on good quality 
paper, or come as an e-mail from a Hotmail address, or have yet some other form. 
Unless the content was to cause concern, all these forms would be perfectly 
acceptable for such a letter, and there would be no reason to think that the document 
was not what it claimed to be. 
Of course, registration of a document is in itself no absolute guarantee that the 
document really is what it claims to be and has been registered as. Thus the 
responsibility for accepting a document and its content must always rest with the 
service handling the matter concerned, and not with the registration department. 
Anonymous letters are a particular form of documents, in the sense that their author 
being unknown is what makes them what they are and is to be expected. Thus the 
fact that a communication is anonymous does not in itself make it exempt to 
registration. An anonymous letter might perhaps be more likely than a signed one to 
be exempt from registration because it does not involve the responsibility of the 
Commission, or because it is unimportant. It is nevertheless subject to the same 
rules of registration and must be analysed in the same way as any other document. 
                                                 
 
 
9   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
Chapter IV, article 1(b). 
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4.1.3. 
When is a document presented for registration “in accordance with an 
established or generally recognised procedure”? 
This question is not as complicated as it might seem. For example, within a given 
DG incoming letters are usually treated in a systematic manner; that is to say 
according to an established procedure. This procedure lays down by whom they will 
be opened, who will decide whether or not a letter must be registered, who will do 
the registration, who will decide on attribution, etc. 
Similarly, there may be a rule in a DG or service telling officials how to act if 
receiving an e-mail that should be registered, or there may be a procedure for how a 
document should be presented for registration after having been circulated for 
approval(s) and signature(s). 
Such procedures can be very strict or quite loose; they can be written down in full 
detail or just be generally known by staff (“here in DG X we always do it like this”). 
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4.2.  Registration and listing in an inventory 
4.2.1. 
Which documents must be registered?10 
There are two different sets of conditions for deciding whether or not a document 
has to be registered. If either set of conditions is fulfilled, the document concerned 
must be registered. 
(1) 
The first set of conditions is a combination of three criteria, all of which 
must be fulfilled, and concerns both drawn up and received documents. 
The first criterion is that the document must have been formally drawn up 
or received in the course of Commission activities. For a definition of when 
a document has been formally drawn up or received, see 8.1.4 and 8.1.7 
respectively. 
The second criterion is that the document must either be likely to require 
action, follow-up or a reply, or involve the responsibility of the Commission. 
The third criterion is that the document must contain important information 
that is not short-lived. Some examples: 
(a) 
Information is considered unimportant and short-lived if its loss 
would have no negative effect for the Commissions administrative or 
legal needs. 
(b) 
Information is considered unimportant and short-lived if it has a 
clearly temporary value that will soon vanish, or a purely ancillary or 
instrumental value. 
A document may also be unimportant and short-lived if it is considered or 
treated as such in a records schedule or a procedural regulation, or by a 
routine administrative practice. 
For a detailed discussion of when a document is considered important and 
not short-lived, see 8.1.8. 
(2) 
The  second set of conditions only concerns drawn up documents, which 
must be registered if they are drawn up as effective administrative or legal 
evidence of decisions, situations, intentions, or events linked to the activities 
of the Commission. 
                                                 
 
 
10   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
chapter V. 
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link to page 11 link to page 36 link to page 15 link to page 16 link to page 11 Effective evidence means that the document is able to produce the intended 
effect on the recipient, who must therefore be able to consider the document 
as credible. 
4.2.2. 
Which documents may be listed in an inventory?11 
Any document, which does not have to be registered, may be listed in an inventory. 
A document can only ever be considered for listing if it clearly falls outside the 
conditions for registration described under point 4.2.1. As a general rule, such a 
document should be listed if this action is considered useful to help identify and 
keep track of the document. 
A document may very well be listed at an initial stage of its life cycle and later 
registered as well. For example, it could be that a document is not yet formally 
drawn up because it has not yet been formally approved and made ready for formal 
transmission (see 8.1.4). As the document is not yet formally drawn up, there is no 
obligation to register it. Nevertheless, the practical work of drafting/typing the 
document has been finished, and the unit in charge of drafting thinks it would be 
useful to list the document as a help to keep track of it while waiting for approval 
and transmission to take place. Particularly, in certain applications (for example 
Adonis 5.2) listing a document will make it possible to use such workflow functions 
(see 4.3) as attribution and circulation lists. For recommendations on how to use 
respectively the inventory and registration numbers, see 5.2. 
Once approval has taken place and the document is ready for transmission, it is 
formally drawn up, and must be registered, provided that it also fulfils the other 
conditions (see 4.2.1) for being registered. 
Thus a document may well be first listed and later registered by the same 
registration department12. The inverse, however, is not recommended. A document 
that has already been registered should not be listed afterwards by the same 
registration service. 
In practice, an inventory can be a separate tool or it can be a module of, or otherwise 
included in a tool used to register documents. Whatever the technical/practical set-
up, it should be possible to re-use for registration any descriptive data (for example 
author, title, date, etc.) created and saved when the document was listed. 
Even though a document qualifies for being listed, there is no obligation to do so. 
Nevertheless, each DG/service (or directorate or unit, depending on document 
                                                 
 
 
11   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
footnote 7; chapters III and VI. 
12   By  registration department is meant everyone within a DG/service responsible for carrying out 
registration. This may be done in a manner either centralised or decentralised, or a combination of 
both, depending on organisation within the DG/service. 
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link to page 43 link to page 8 link to page 11 management organisation within the DG/service) is free to set up such rules, as 
strict and detailed (or not!) as they see fit, for various types of documents that may 
be listed. 
4.2.3. 
Can a document be registered or listed more than once? 
No, and yes. 
A document should, of course, not be registered more often than necessary. In 
particular it should not be registered in the general register if the same transmission 
has already been registered in a specific register or vice versa (see 8.4).13 
However, one of the main purposes of registration is to certify transmission, which 
is to say that a document has been sent or received at a certain date (see 4.1.1). Thus 
in the case of a document that is sent from, for example, one DG to another, there 
are two instances of transmission to be certified: the sending of the document, and 
its reception. The document must therefore be registered twice, once by the sender 
and once by the receiver. In principle, the document could have to be registered (or 
listed, if it does not meet the conditions for registration) any number of times, 
depending on the number of transmissions and recipients. 
4.2.4. 
Are there documents that do not have to be registered? 14 
Yes. 
Obviously, if a document does not fulfil the conditions for registration (see 4.2.1) it 
does not have to be registered. But there are other categories of documents that do 
not have to be registered. 
A document is exempt from the procedure of registration if another procedure 
guarantees an equivalent result (particularly concerning identification), or if the 
administrative rules and practices of a DG/service do not require registration as a 
formalised record of transmission. The following gives some examples. 
(1) 
Documents such as the COM, SEC, and C series, distributed in a number of 
copies to Commission departments, do not have to be registered by the 
recipients, since these documents are identified and monitored by a well 
established procedure. 
(2) 
Documents such as those treated by the SIC and SYSPER2 applications do 
not have to be registered, since these systems guarantee that the documents 
                                                 
 
 
13   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article V. 
14   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
articles VI and VII. 
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link to page 45 are processed and stored in a methodical manner and under a reliable 
procedure. 
(3) 
Documents such as briefings or e-mails exchanged for advice or commentary 
between Commission departments do not have to be registered when the 
exchange is made informally and in agreement of good faith. 
4.2.5. 
When does a document have to be registered? 
A document must be registered as soon as possible after being formally drawn up or 
received. 
Under normal circumstances, “as soon as possible” means the same day, or (if a 
document is received or drawn up very late in the day) the following working day at 
the latest. 
4.2.6. 
Are there documents exchanged within a department that must be 
registered? 
Yes. 
When both author and recipient are in the same department (DG/service or 
directorate) the rules are exactly the same as when they are in different DGs. 
However, documents sent within the Commission do not have to be registered if 
they fall under the exception of being exchanged informally and in good faith, for 
advice or commentary. This is true for documents exchanged between DGs, and 
perhaps even more likely to be true for documents exchanged within the same 
department. 
4.2.7. 
Why is registration important for public access to documents? 
The Commission has a legal obligation to make citizens’ rights under regulation 
1049/2001 effective by providing public access to a register of documents. 
The rights of citizens under regulation 1049/2001 do not include an unlimited right 
of access to Commission documents. Although in principle all Commission 
documents should be accessible, certain public and private interests are protected by 
exceptions. 
Citizens do, however, have the absolute right of demanding access to a document 
(even if this document falls under the protection of an exception) and to have this 
demand tried. In other words, every time someone demands access to a document, 
the request and the document will have to be analysed anew, taking into 
consideration who wants to see what, and whether or not this request can be granted 
under the exception rules in force. 
This is where registration comes in. If you do not know that a document exists, you 
cannot demand access to it, and therefore you cannot have your demand tried under 
the rules in force. Although citizens will not necessarily have direct access to the 
registers (Adonis, etc.) with which the Commission works on daily basis, these 
registers will feed the public register (see 8.4.2). 
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4.3.  What is the difference between registration and document workflow? 
Registration of a document is a mandatory formal act, certifying that a document 
has been transmitted from an author to a recipient and integrated into the 
Commission’s document management system. Registration must also facilitate the 
identification and tracing of a document, throughout its lifecycle (see 4.1.1). 
Workflow, on the other hand, is everything that has to do with practical, day-to-day 
handling of a document. It includes such elements of who-does-what as attribution 
for handling, task allocation, circulation for information, approval or signature, and 
much more. 
Workflow is, of course, a very important aspect of document management, but the 
practical act of producing or dealing with a document (and its attaining business) 
must never be confused with the formal act of registration. This is particularly 
important as several registration tools (not least Adonis) contain functions for both 
registration and workflow. 
4.4.  What is the difference between registration and document storage? 
Registration of a document is a mandatory formal act, certifying that a document 
has been transmitted from an author to a recipient and integrated into the 
Commission’s document management system. Registration must also facilitate the 
identification and tracing of a document, throughout its lifecycle (see 4.1.1). 
Document storage, on the other hand, is everything that has to do with the physical 
storage of documents. Although several registration tools (not least Adonis) contain 
functions for both registration and (electronic) storage for documents, the practical 
function of accessing the documents itself (or an electronic copy) must not be 
confused with the formal act of registration, even if the same application is used in 
both cases. 
15 (56) 
 

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link to page 41 link to page 41  
 
5. REGISTRATION IN PRACTICE 
5.1.  Which are the practical operations of registration?15 
Registration consists of two distinct operations: saving essential descriptive data, 
and  permanently associating the document with the data describing it. Both 
operations must be carried out in the presence of the original16 document. 
To save essential descriptive data17 means making sure that all information needed 
to properly describe the document from an administrative, legal, and archival point 
of view has been entered into the system used for registration, and saved there. 
To permanently associate the document with the data describing it means that 
the document is connected to the descriptive data in a way that is permanent and 
cannot be changed, and which allows the document to be unequivocally identified. 
The most common way of doing this is by affixing (by writing, stamping, or some 
other method) a registration number (and often other information, such as the date 
or the service involved) to the document itself. 
5.2.  If a document is both listed and registered, which number should it bear? 
If a drawn up document has been listed during the preparatory stage in order to 
facilitate workflow (attribution and/or circulation), and then after approval also 
registered, it will have two numbers: one inventory number and one registration 
number. The following is a recommendation on the practical use of these two 
numbers. 
The inventory number should not be written on the master document that is to be 
approved, signed, and sent out, as this is likely to cause confusion with the 
registration number. The inventory number might, however, be mentioned on 
accompanying documents such as a circulation slip or briefing note. In the absence 
of such accompanying documents, the inventory number could also if necessary be 
pencilled lightly on the master document, and erased after registration. 
                                                 
 
 
15   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article VIII. 
16   The original document containing all the information as transmitted by the sender to the addressee 
[…], in so far as the parties involved confer on the document concerned the status of original by 
mutual consent, by tacit agreement or under a well established procedure. Implementing rules for 
Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, article III. 
17   For a definition of essential descriptive data, see 8.2.2. 
16 (56) 
 

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link to page 34 link to page 36 link to page 38 link to page 11 link to page 13 The  registration number should be the one written on the outgoing copy of the 
master document. Given that registration can only take place after approval and 
signature, it will usually be necessary to affix the registration number to an outgoing 
document by hand or by using a numbering stamp. 
Once the Nomcom system is in place, the master document may also carry a 
reference to the official code18 of the file to which the document belongs. 
5.3.  Step-by-step analysis of a document 
It is difficult to draw up a definite list or typology of documents with clear and 
unambiguous rules for what must be registered and what not. As this manual 
hopefully makes clear, the question whether or not to register a given document can 
only be answered by analysing it in context. 
Analysing a document should not mean turning it over and over for hours on end, 
scrutinising every last detail. On the contrary, in most cases a brief study, or even a 
cursory glance, is sufficient to arrive at a conclusion. This is particularly true as 
experience of registration, and of the types of document usually dealt with, is built 
up in a registration service. 
In order to help build up such experience, and for use in less clear-cut cases (which 
will unavoidably present themselves), the following schemes aims to give step-by-
step guides to analysing documents, giving the sequence of questions to be posed 
and the consequences or actions that follow from the answers to them. 
When analysing a document the sequence of questions does not have to be followed 
in entirety or in any strict order. If, for example, the sticky point concerns just 
certain aspects of a document, one could use only the part or parts of the sequence 
necessary to resolve the issue. 
For more detailed discussions of the issues on which this document analysis is 
based, see 8.1.1 (definition of a document), 8.1.4 (definition of formally drawn up), 
8.1.7 (definition of received), 4.2.1 (documents to be registered), and 4.2.4 
(documents that do not have to be registered). 
                                                 
 
 
18   The official code of a file has the format YYYY-LLNNNN where YYYY is the year in which the file 
was created, L are letters and N are numbers, for example 2004-AA1234 or 2006-ZX6583. Note à 
l’attention des membres du Groupe de liaison DMO – IRM, Objet : Code dossier dans NomCom, 2003 
SG.G.3/es D(2003) 31410, 15.12.2003. 
17 (56) 

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5.3.1. 
Analysis of a drawn up document 
(1) 
Is the document formally drawn up? 
A document is considered formally drawn up when it has been approved as 
ready by the author and is ready for formal transmission. 
This is checked against the following: 
(a) 
Is the document approved as ready by the author? 
The author is the person or organisational entity formally responsible for the 
content of the document. The document is approved as ready either by an act 
of approbation (for example a signature, or adoption by a meeting) or by de 
facto treating it as ready (for example by sending it to someone, or by 
making it available via a website). 
Is the document ready in the sense of the one responsible saying it is, by 
signing it, sending it, or by a similar act of formal or de facto 
approbation? 
If yes, the document is approved as ready, and should be checked against the 
other points. 
If no, the document is not approved as ready, is therefore not yet formally 
drawn up, and does not have to be registered. 
(b) 
Is the document ready for formal transmission? 
Transmission means sending the document from the author to a recipient. 
The recipient can be a person, an organisational entity, or an 
archiving/information system. Transmission to a person or an organisation is 
formal when the recipient is the one for whom the document is ultimately 
intended. Transmission to an archiving/information system (for example a 
note to the file) is formal when the document is incorporated into the system. 
Is the document ready either for transmission to the recipient for whom 
it is ultimately intended, or to be incorporated into an 
archival/information system? 
If yes, the document is ready for formal transmission, and should be checked 
against the other points. 
If no, the document is not ready for formal transmission, is therefore not yet 
formally drawn up, and does not have to be registered. 
(2) 
Does the document involve the responsibility of the Commission 
This is checked against the following: 
18 (56) 
 

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link to page 39 Does the matter of the document relate to the policies, activities or 
decisions of the Commission or one or more of its departments? 
If yes, the document does involve the responsibility of the Commission, and 
should be checked against the other points. 
If no, the document does not involve the responsibility of the Commission, 
and does not have to be registered. 
(3) 
Is the information contained in the document important and not short-lived? 
For a document to be considered for registration, it must contain important 
information that is not short-lived. Information is unimportant and short-
lived if losing it would have no negative effects for the Commission’s 
administrative or legal needs, or if its value is clearly temporary and will 
soon vanish, or if it is just ancillary or instrumental. For a more detailed 
discussion of this issue, see 8.1.8. 
This is checked against the following points: 
(a) 
Is the information in the document important? 
Would the loss of the information in the document have a negative effect 
for the Commission’s administrative or legal needs? 
If yes, the document is important and not short-lived, and should be checked 
against the other points. 
If no, the document is unimportant and short-lived, and does not have to be 
registered. 
(b) 
Is the information in the document not short-lived? 
Does the information have more than a clearly temporary value that will 
soon vanish? 
If yes, the document is important and not short-lived, and should be checked 
against the other points. 
If no, the document is unimportant and short-lived, and does not have to be 
registered. 
19 (56) 

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link to page 39  
 
5.3.2. 
Analysis of a received document 
(1) 
Is the document received? 
A document is considered received when it is available to the service(s) for 
which it is intended. 
This is checked against the following: 
(a) 
Is the document available to the service? 
Available means that the document has arrived at the premises of the service, 
or has been handed to an official competent to deal with the document, or 
has intentionally been made available to the service through an information 
system. An official competent to deal with the document is either an official 
involved in the handling of the matter to which the document is related, or an 
official charged with the task of receiving or treating incoming documents. 
Has the document arrived at the premises of the service, or been handed 
to an official competent to deal with it, or been made available through 
an information system? 
If  yes, the document is received, and should be checked against the other 
points. 
If no, the document is not received, and does not have to be registered. 
(2) 
Is the document likely to require action, follow-up or a reply, or does it 
involve the responsibility of the Commission? 
This is checked against the following: 
Is the document likely to require action, follow-up or a reply, or does 
the matter of the document relate to the policies, activities or decisions 
of the Commission or one or more of its departments? 
If yes, the document should be checked against the other points. 
If no, the document does not have to be registered. 
(3) 
Is the information contained in the document important and not short-lived? 
For a document to be considered for registration, it must contain important 
information that is not short-lived. Information is unimportant and short-
lived if losing it would have no negative effects for the Commission’s 
administrative or legal needs, or if its value is clearly temporary and will 
soon vanish, or if it is just ancillary or instrumental. For a more detailed 
discussion of this issue, see 8.1.8. 
This is checked against the following: 
(a) 
Is the information in the document important? 
20 (56) 
 

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link to page 18 link to page 20 link to page 18 link to page 20 Would the loss of the information in the document have a negative effect 
for the Commission’s administrative or legal needs? 
If yes, the document is important and not short-lived, and should be checked 
against the other points. 
If no, the document is unimportant and short-lived, and does not have to be 
registered. 
(b) 
Is the information in the document not short-lived? 
Does the information have more than a clearly temporary value that will 
soon vanish? 
If yes, the document is important and not short-lived, and should be checked 
against the other points. 
If no, the document is unimportant and short-lived, and does not have to be 
registered. 
5.3.3. 
Analysis to check if a document falls under the exceptions to registration 
Not all documents have to be registered. Obviously, if the answer is “no” to one of 
the questions listed under 5.3.1 and 5.3.2 there is no longer any obligation to 
register. However, there are also some exceptions to this obligation. In other words, 
even though one answers “yes” to all questions under5.3.1 or 5.3.2 a document may 
still be exempt from registration. 
This is checked against the following: 
(1) 
Is there another procedure in place that guarantees a result equivalent to 
registration? 
A document is exempt from registration if another procedure guarantees an 
equivalent result (particularly concerning identification), or if the 
administrative rules and practices of a DG/service do not require registration 
as a formalised record of transmission. 
Documents such as the COM, SEC, and C series, distributed in a number of 
copies to Commission departments, do not have to be registered by the 
recipients, since these documents are identified and monitored by a well 
established procedure. Likewise systems such as the SIC and SYSPER2 
applications guarantee that the documents treated by them are processed and 
stored in a methodical manner and under a reliable procedure. 
Lists of types and categories of documents handled under rules and 
procedures equivalent to registration shall be kept up to date in records 
schedules and manuals of procedure of DGs and services. 
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link to page 18 link to page 20 Is there another procedure in place, for which a records schedule or a 
manual of procedure clearly states that it guarantees a result equivalent 
to registration? 
If  yes, the document falls under an exception to registration, and does not 
have to be registered. 
(2) 
Do the administrative rules and practices of the DG/service lack the 
requirement of registration as a formalised record of transmission. 
Documents such as briefings or e-mails exchanged for advice or commentary 
between Commission departments do not have to be registered when the 
exchange is made informally and in agreement of good faith. 
Is the document exchanged between Commission departments 
informally and in agreement of good faith? 
If  yes, the document falls under an exception to registration, and does not 
have to be registered. 
(3) 
Is the information considered or treated as unimportant and short-lived? 
The decision to consider a document as unimportant and short-lived will 
often be made on a case-by-case basis, and is then part of the analysis 
described under 5.3.1 and 5.3.2. 
However, a type or category of documents can be considered or treated as 
unimportant and short-lived by a records schedule, a procedural regulation, 
or by a routine administrative practice, in which case it should be seen as 
falling under an exception to registration. 
Is the information considered or treated as unimportant and short-lived 
in a records schedule, a procedural regulation or by a routine 
administrative practice? 
If  yes, the document falls under an exception to registration, and does not 
have to be registered. 
22 (56) 

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link to page 41  
 
5.4.  Rules for encoding essential descriptive data (metadata)19 
The structure of this chapter follows the list of essential descriptive data given in the 
Implementing rules on registration.20 
Reference will also be made to the ongoing work of the DG for Informatics (DIGIT) 
to draft rules on metadata syntax for registered documents21. It should be made clear 
that the work of the DIGIT on syntax rules aims only to define a common language 
to allow data exchange between document management applications, or in other 
words technical syntax rules. 
This chapter on the other hand will deal with rules and syntax from a user’s 
perspective, that is to say giving rules on what sources to use for collecting different 
types of metadata from documents, and, when necessary, how this metadata should 
be encoded and in what form. 
It should be noted that this chapter only deals with essential descriptive data. Most 
registration systems in use at the Commission allows other descriptive data to be 
encoded as well. 
5.4.1. 
General rules 
If a given type of information on the document is illegible, it should be registered 
with that particular metadata given as unreadable. 
5.4.2. 
General rules for encoding dates 
The DIGIT rules on Metadata syntax for registered documents lays down the basic 
rule that all dates should be saved in the format YYYY-MM-DD, according to the 
International Standard ISO 8601. 
This does not mean that dates will have to be encoded or presented in this format. 
The only thing which must remain uniform across all systems involved is the 
storage format. 
                                                 
 
 
19   For more details on the concept of descriptive data (metadata), see 8.2. 
20   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article VIII(1). 
21   Metadata of registered document, ADMIN/DI/SSI-SAI/NAP D(2003). The text in this manual is based 
on draft version 3.7, dated 10 September 2003. 
23 (56) 
 

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link to page 16 link to page 14 5.4.3. 
Date of the document 
The date of the document is primarily the one actually written on the document 
with the express purpose to indicate on what date it was (for example) produced, 
approved, or sent out by its author. 
If there is no such date on the document, a transmission date reflecting the author’s 
actions or intentions (for example the date of a postmark on an envelope, the date 
automatically stamped on a document by a fax machine, or the send date in an e-
mail) can also be used. 
The important issue is that the metadata saved as date of the document should 
reflect the actions or intentions of the author. If it does not exist at all as indicated 
above, or is illegible, it should not be made up or be given a random value, nor be 
taken from any other date appearing on the document for one reason or another (for 
example the date of a previous registration in another service). In such cases it 
should be given as no date, or shown as an empty value (for example 00/00/0000). 
5.4.4. 
Date of registration 
The date of registration is the date when the document is registered. In practical 
terms this means the date when the practical operations of registration (see 5.1) are 
carried out. This should normally be the same day as the day when the document is 
received or formally drawn up (see 4.2.5). 
Unless a registration service is set up in such a way that documents will always be 
registered on the very day when they are received or formally drawn up, the date of 
registration metadata as it appears in the register can never constitute absolute proof 
that a document arrived or was sent out on that date. However, it is always a strong 
indication that such is the case. 
5.4.5. 
Registration number (unique identifier) 
The registration number is a composite, alpha-numeric metadata that has several 
elements, only one of which is the incremental number often meant in daily use of 
the term “registration number”. Possible elements of the registration number in the 
sense of this point are, in no particular order: 
–  An incremental number, unique within a series that is defined and described by 
some or all of the other elements included in this list; 
–  A code to signify the type of registration or registration process, for example A 
for incoming mail (“arrivée”) and D for outgoing mail (“départ”); 
–  The year and/or the date of the registration; 
–  The service responsible for drawing up or for registering the document; 
–  A code to signify the version of the document; 
–  A code to signify the language of the document, in the case of a document that 
exists in several, parallel language versions; 
24 (56) 

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–  A code to signify the part of a multi-part document. 
Together, some or all of these elements must form a unique identifier for each 
registered document. 
Each register (whether general or specific) shall have its own incremental number 
series, which must give the best possible guarantees of consistency and continuity in 
numbering.22 In computerised systems the incremental number must therefore be 
automatically given by the system. 
The incremental number series in a given register shall, except for duly 
substantiated reasons, be reset to zero on January 1st each year.23 The continuity 
within a year may only be interrupted if the reasons for the discontinuity are 
documented, or if it is a known specific feature of the system used.24 
5.4.6. 
Author of the document 
The  author of the document is the person(s) or the organisational entity/entities 
formally responsible for its content, or otherwise clearly indicated as the author by 
the contents and context of the document. 
A document can, of course, have several authors. In the case of multiple authors, the 
number to be registered may be limited by the system or (if the system allows an 
unlimited number of authors) by choice. 
If a document has more authors than the system is technically capable of registering, 
the registration service must decide which author(s) to register. Priority should be 
given to any author who seems to have had a coordinating or leading role in drafting 
the document. If it is not possible to make any such distinction, it is recommended 
that the author(s) first mentioned be chosen. 
If the system allows an unlimited number of authors to be encoded, it is 
recommended that as large a number of authors as practically possible are 
registered. The exact number can hardly be fixed in advance, and must be left to the 
discretion of the registration service. As a general recommendation, however, ten or 
more authors should only be registered if it is deemed really useful to do so. 
In the case of for example petitions (which could have thousands and thousands of 
authors) registration should always be limited to contact persons, or those 
                                                 
 
 
22   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article IX(2). 
23   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article IX(2). 
24   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
footnote 22. 
25 (56) 

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link to page 9 responsible for handing it over. If no such distinction can be made, the first person 
to have signed shall be deemed to be the author. 
In all cases where a document has more authors than registered, it is recommended 
that a note is made to this effect in a suitable field (remarks, note, or similar). 
If a document is anonymous, it should be registered with the author given as 
anonymous. (See also 4.1.2). 
5.4.7. 
Department or body to which an author belongs 
The department or body to which an author belongs is at least the name of the 
organisational entity to which an author belongs or which an author represents. This 
metadata can also contain address or contact information. 
If a documents is received from a private person, or with no mention of the 
department or body to which the author belongs, the metadata should be given as 
not applicable. 
5.4.8. 
Addressee of the document 
The addressee of the document is the person(s) or the organisational entity/entities 
to which the document is addressed. 
A document can, of course, have several addressees. In the case of multiple 
addressees, the number to be registered may be limited by the system or (if the 
system allows an unlimited number of addressees) by choice. 
If a document has more addressees than the system is technically capable of 
registering, the registration service must decide which addressee(s) to register. 
Priority should be given to any addressee who is deemed to be the main recipient of 
document. An addressee can be the main recipient either in absolute terms, or from 
the point of view of the DG/Service responsible for the registration. For example in 
the case of a document addressed to 20 Director Generals in 20 DGs, each DG 
should normally consider its own Director General to be the main recipient unless 
it’s clearly indicated otherwise. If it is not possible to distinguish a main recipient, it 
is recommended that the addressee(s) first mentioned be chosen. 
If the system allows an unlimited number of addressees to be encoded, it is 
recommended that as large a number of addressees as practically possible are 
registered. The exact number can hardly be fixed in advance, and must be left to the 
discretion of the registration service. As a general recommendation, however, ten or 
more addressees should only be registered if it is deemed really useful to do so. 
In the case of outgoing documents distributed according to send lists (which could 
have large numbers of addressees) priority should be given to any addressee who is 
deemed to be the main recipient of document. If it is not possible to distinguish a 
main recipient, it is recommended that the addressee(s) first mentioned be chosen. 
In all cases where a document has more addressees than registered, it is 
recommended that a note is made to this effect in a suitable field (remarks, note, or 
similar). In particular the registration of an outgoing document distributed according 
26 (56) 

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link to page 35 link to page 43 link to page 44 link to page 27 to a send list must mention that a send list has been used (see 8.1.3 for a further 
discussion of the importance of metadata to distinguish logical document unity). 
5.4.9. 
Department or body to which an addressee belongs 
The department or body to which an addressee belongs is at least the name of the 
organisational entity to which an addressee belongs or which an addressee 
represents. 
This metadata can also contain address or contact information. 
If the addressee is a private person, or if there is no mention of the department or 
body to which the addressee belongs, the metadata should be given as not 
applicable. 
5.4.10.  Level of security classification of the document 
The  level of security classification of the document is only used for documents 
classified according to the Commission provisions on security, that is to say EU 
RESTRICTED, EU CONFIDENTIAL, EU SECRET, and EU TOP SECRET. 
EU CONFIDENTIAL, EU SECRET, and EU TOP SECRET documents must 
always be registered in specific EU Classified information (EUCI) registers25 (see 
8.4.1 (2)(b)). 
EU RESTRICTED documents can in principle be registered in the same registers as 
unclassified documents, provided that sufficient technical and administrative 
procedures are in place to ensure protection against unauthorised access to the 
documents. If this is done, the level of security classification of the document for 
unclassified documents should be NORMAL. 
5.4.11.  Security designators and markings of the document 
Security designators and markings are not the same thing. 
Security designators shall only be used in combination with a classification (see 
5.4.10), to set limits to the validity of a classification or where there is need for a 
limited distribution and special handling in addition to that designated by the 
security classification.26 The rules on the layout of EU Classified Documents equally 
apply to security designators.27 
                                                 
 
 
25   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 22. 
26   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 16.2. 
27   Security Directorate, Security Notice 06, version 06.06.2002. 
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link to page 33 link to page 52 Markings may be applied by the author to documents and envelopes to control the 
flow of information. More than one marking may be used for a given document. The 
Commission Security Office in cooperation with the Council, the Commission 
Secretariat General and DG ADMIN has created a list of agreed markings. No other 
markings are to be used unless they have followed the same procedure to be 
agreed.28 
For a list of some agreed markings, see 7.2. 
5.4.12.  Title or subject of the document 
The primary objective of the title or subject of the document is to succinctly 
describe the contents of the document, in order to understand what it is mainly about 
without having to consult the document itself. 
Many documents already have a title. This may be copied and encoded as the title 
or subject of the document, on the absolute condition that it fulfils the above 
primary objective. In other words, the original title on a document may not be 
automatically re-used for registration. The document must always be checked, at 
least briefly, to make sure that the original title is a good enough description of the 
contents of the document. 
To limit the number of potential searches necessary to find a document, the title or 
subject of the document must always be written in English or French. 
If the original title of the document is in another language than English or French, it 
may be copied and encoded in addition to the mandatory title or subject in English 
or French. If this is done, the original title shall come after the title or subject in 
English or French, separated by the string <space>=<space>. Whether to use this 
practice or not is for each DG/Service to decide. 
If the search functions of a registration system are not case sensitive, the title or 
subject of the document may be encoded either using only upper-case or using both 
upper- and lower-case characters. In this context, it should be noted that using only 
upper-case somewhat facilitates encoding, while using both upper- and lower-case 
makes a text considerably easier to read. 
If the search functions of a registration system are case sensitive, only upper-case 
characters should be used for encoding the title or subject of the document. 
Depending on the technical capacities of a given registration system, and the choice 
of a DG/Service, diacritical characters must either be represented in full, or 
transliterated according to the tables in Annex 2 (Transliteration tables). They may 
not simply be left out. 
                                                 
 
 
28   Protocol and Security Service. Security Notice 01/2001, update 1, 12.12.2001. 
28 (56) 

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link to page 35 link to page 35 If a date is mentioned in the title or subject of the document, it should always be 
encoded in the format DD/MM/YYYY. 
Personal data may never be encoded as part of the title or subject of the document. 
5.4.13.  Type of document concerned 
There is as yet no decision on a general typology of documents to be used for the 
type of document metadata. 
5.4.14.  Relevant heading of the filing plan 
Every registered document must be kept permanently in a file.29 This file must in its 
turn be associated with a final-level heading of the filing plan.30 
The relevant heading of the filing plan is thus the final-level heading to which the 
file is associated. It may be referred to in the register by its official decimal code, its 
title, or both. If technically possible, the reference in the register may also contain 
other information elements such as any local codes or abbreviations used to identify 
the heading. 
5.4.15.  File title 
The file title is part of the essential descriptive data for a file31, and the file title in 
the register reference should be the same as in the file list32. 
5.4.16.  Number of attachments 
As discussed under 8.1.3, one document (=one registration) may well consist of 
several physical units, for example a covering note plus main document, or a main 
document with annexes (or other combinations). The number of attachments is 
the number of physical units (see 8.1.3) other than the covering note/main 
document/similar on which the registration is based. 
In the case of an e-mail, the e-mail itself is considered to be the covering 
note/similar, unless it is completely empty or void of information. 
                                                 
 
 
29   Implementing rules for Article 5 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/2, 
article VII(2)(B). 
30   Implementing rules for Article 5 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/2, 
article VI(1)(B). 
31   Implementing rules for Article 5 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/2, 
article VII(2)(C). 
32   Implementing rules for Article 5 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/2, 
article VIII. 
29 (56) 

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link to page 28 link to page 24 For example, if an incoming mail consists of a main document with five annexes, 
the number of attachments is five. 
5.4.17.  Brief description of attachments 
The brief description of attachments may include: 
–  a brief description of each attachment similar to the title or subject of a document 
(see 5.4.12); 
–  a code to indicate the language of the attachment, similar to the one used as part 
of the registration number of a document (see 5.4.5); 
–  in the case of attachments in electronic format, an indication of the format(s) 
used, for example .doc, .tif, .pdf, etc. 
30 (56) 

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6. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA 
All processing of personal data in Commission registers must comply with 
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 
December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of 
personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement 
of such data. 
Detailed rules for the application of Regulation 45/2001 in the registration of 
documents will be drafted separately. 
31 (56) 
 

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link to page 45 link to page 45 link to page 43 link to page 43 link to page 43 link to page 43 link to page 44  
 
7. REGISTRATION OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS 
This chapter is not intended to explain all the rules and regulations for dealing with 
classified or similar documents. The aim is rather to give a brief overview of the 
different types of classified documents, and how the rules on registration apply to 
them. 
However, the obligation to register a document is not connected to whether it has 
fallen, falls, or may at some point in the future fall under the exceptions to public 
access to documents33. See also 8.4.2 (1). 
7.1.  EU Classified Information (EUCI) documents 
There are four levels of EU Classified Information (EUCI) documents, ranging 
from the lowest, EU RESTRICTED, via EU CONFIDENTIAL and EU SECRET to 
the highest, EU TOP SECRET.34 
Registration of documents classified EU CONFIDENTIAL or EU SECRET is the 
responsibility of one or more local EUCI registries in each department35, while 
registration of EU TOP SECRET documents is the responsibility of the central EU 
TOP SECRET registry (or possibly, if any such has been established, an EU TOP 
SECRET sub-registry).36 The resulting registers are considered specific registers 
(see 8.4.1(2)). 
The Commission provisions on security do not specify any such responsibility for 
documents classified EU RESTRICTED. For a further discussion of registration of 
EU RESTRICTED documents, see 8.4.1(2) (2)(b). 
Otherwise, EUCI documents are subject to the same obligations to register as any 
other document. 
                                                 
 
 
33   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 4. 
34   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 16.1. 
35   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 22.1. 
36   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 22.2.1. 
32 (56) 
 

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link to page 32 7.2.  Security markings 
Security markings may be applied to documents and envelopes to control the flow 
of information. Such markings may only be applied by the author of the document, 
and do not constitute a security classification (see 7.1). More than one marking may 
be used for a given document. 
The Commission Security Office in cooperation with the Council, the Commission 
Secretariat General and DG ADMIN has created a list of agreed markings. No other 
markings are to be used unless they have followed the same procedure to be 
agreed.37 Some agreed markings are: 
Marking 
Significance/action to take 
Medical 
The content is covered by rules on medical 
Médical 
confidentiality. Only to be processed by staff authorised 
Arztsache 
by the medical service. 
Staff matter 
Only to be processed by staff of personnel departements 
Affaire du personnel 
and by management concerned. 
Personalsache 
Personal 
Only to be opened by addressee. 
Strictement personnel 
Persönlich 
Deadline: … 
Indicating deadline for an action. 
Date limite: … 
Frist: … 
Embargo until … 
Indicating date/time before a document may be published
Embargo jusqu’à … 
Embargo bis … 
Limited 
Indicating that a document may be made available only 
Limité 
to those who have a need to know within the European 
Intern 
institutions and the Member States. 
The above list is not necessarily complete. For a full and up-to-date list of agreed 
security markings, one should contact the Commission Security Office.38 
Documents with security markings are subject to the same obligations to register as 
any other document. However, there must be sufficient technical and administrative 
procedures in place to ensure protection against unauthorised access. 
                                                 
 
 
37   Protocol and Security Service. Security Notice 01/2001, update 1, 12.12.2001. 
38   Protocol and Security Service. Security Notice 01/2001, update 1, 12.12.2001. 
33 (56) 

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link to page 35 link to page 38 link to page 34  
 
8. DEFINITIONS 
8.1.  Document 
8.1.1. 
What is a document?39 
A document is any content independent of medium40. In other words, it does not 
matter if it is text written on paper or in an e-mail, sound registered on a tape, or 
pictures stored in an electronic format on a CD-ROM. No matter what type of 
information, what format, what physical support, it is a document. 
The above is the general definition of a document. For the purposes of this manual, 
however, the definition is a bit more limited. For a document in the general sense to 
be a document in the Commission sense, it must also concern the policies, activities 
and decisions of the Commission. 
Finally, for a document to be concerned by the provisions on document 
management (including registration) or public access it must be formally drawn up 
or received by, and in the possession of the Commission. 
This is all straightforward enough. However, the above definition leaves several 
questions still to be answered. These will be dealt with under points 8.1.3 to 8.1.7. 
8.1.2. 
Is there such a thing as an official document? 
No. 
The concept official document does not exist anywhere in the legal base 
concerning document management in the Commission. However, the term is fairly 
widespread and often used to indicate important types of Commission documents, 
for example documents published in the Official Journal, COM and SEC 
documents, minutes from the meetings of the College of Commissioners, white 
papers, etc. This usage of the term official document is acceptable, as long it is born 
in mind that from a formal point of view such documents are no more official than 
any other fulfilling the criteria discussed under point 8.1.1. 
                                                 
 
 
39   Provisions on document management, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2002/47/EC, articles 1 and 4. 
40   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 3. The following media are explicitly mentioned: written on 
paper; stored in electronic form; sound, visual or audio-visual recording. 
34 (56) 
 

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8.1.3. 
How can an individual document unit be identified?41 
It is not always obvious what should be considered one individual document unit, 
and thus the basis for one registration. 
The question of document unity can be approached in different ways, the most 
important of which are respectively physical unity and logical unity. 
The question of physical unity deals with the physical format of the document, and 
in particular of the parts which make up the document. To give an example, a 
number of paper sheets stapled together42 might be considered one document 
because they are a physical unit. This approach, however, has serious weaknesses. 
The fact that (for example) a number of paper sheets are a physical unit is no proof 
that all the information on them belong together, or that they contain all the 
information which actually do belong together. For example it might not be possible 
to staple together a 200 page document, with the result that several physical units 
(say, four bundles of 50 pages each) are created. Nevertheless, there is only one 
document. Likewise, if the staples are removed from the 200 pages and the 
individual sheets separated from each other, it does not mean that 200 documents 
have suddenly been created. There is still only one document, event though it 
consists of 200 separate physical units. 
The physical unity approach is thus not sufficient for identifying an individual 
document. It may at best give indications about document unity, for example in the 
sense that if a number of pages are joined together it usually signifies that they have 
something to do with each other. 
The logical unity approach on the other hand mainly considers content and context. 
Of course, logical unity may well go hand in hand with physical unity. The most 
obvious example would be a single page containing all the information to make a 
complete document. In order to separate the physical from the logical in this case, 
one would have to tear up the page. 
In many cases, however, physical and logical unity is less obviously connected. An 
analysis of content and context is necessary. Important indicators of logical unity 
are such things as covering notes, title pages, tables of content, chapters, headings, 
page and annex numbering, etc. For example a table of content may indicate that a 
document should consist of an introduction, five chapters, conclusion and three 
annexes. No matter of how many physical units43 the document is made up, a quick 
                                                 
 
 
41   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
42   The stapling together of paper sheets is of course only one example of the many ways in which 
document parts are joined together to form physical unities, and used here for the purpose of 
illustrating the argument. 
43   Perhaps one unit for the introduction, one per chapter, etc.; perhaps one for the main text and one for 
each of the annexes; perhaps only one altogether; the possibilities are many. 
35 (56) 

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link to page 26 comparison between the table of contents and the physical units would make it clear 
that it is the case of only one logical unit, and thus only one document. In the same 
way, pagination can be used to verify the integrity of a logical unit. For example, if 
there are ten pages numbered from 1(10) to 10(10) this is a good indication of 
logical and document unity. 
Likewise, a covering note often serves to make it clear that several physical units 
form a single logical unit together. A good example would be the launch of an inter-
service consultation, where the covering note serves to logically unite all physical 
units (main text, annexes, explanatory notes, etc.) of the original consultation launch 
by making it clear that they are all logically part of the document offered for 
consultation. 
However, just because several physical units arrive (or are sent) together, it does not 
automatically mean that they belong together. A covering note may make it clear 
that they have no logical connection, for example by stating that the physical units 
in question concern separate and different subjects. 
Another very important indicator of logical unity is the metadata needed to describe 
a document. In principle, if two different sets of metadata have to be used to 
describe something, this means there are two documents. If, for example, exactly the 
same information is sent to two different recipients only one of which is mentioned 
on each copy, the recipient metadata for each copy will be different and there will 
be two documents, and two registrations. If, on the other hand both recipients are 
mentioned on both copies44, one set of recipient metadata correctly describes all 
copies, thus there is only one document and one registration. 
8.1.4. 
When is a document considered formally drawn up?45 
There is a very important difference to be made between the physical existence of a 
document (for example as words written on paper, sounds recorded on tape, or a 
series of zeroes and ones on a computer hard drive), and its formal existence as 
having been formally drawn up. A document may very well exist physically without 
existing formally. Nevertheless, it is only when a document created at the 
Commission exists formally by having been formally drawn up that it can be 
considered for registration. 
A document is considered formally drawn up when it has been approved as ready 
by the author and is ready for formal transmission. 
In this context, author does not mean the official(s) charged with the practical task 
of drafting/typing the document.46 The author is the person or the organisational 
                                                 
 
 
44   For example in an attached send list. See also 5.4.8. 
45   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
36 (56) 

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link to page 8 link to page 16 link to page 36 entity formally responsible for the content of the document directly in accordance 
with the established rules and procedures of the Commission (including the rules 
and procedures on delegation). 
A document is approved as ready either by an act of approval (for example a 
signature), or by de facto treating the document as ready (for example by sending it 
to the intended recipient(s), by making it accessible via a website, etc.). 
Ready in this context does not necessarily mean the final version. An intermediate 
or draft version of a document may be considered ready as such (for example ready 
to be sent out for a formal inter-service consultation). 
Transmission means an author sending a document to a recipient. This recipient 
can be a person, an organisational entity, or an archiving/information system. 
If the recipient is a person or an organisational entity,  transmission is formal 
when the recipient47 is the one for whom the document is ultimately intended. 
If the recipient is an archiving/information system (for example in the case of a 
note to the file) transmission is formal when the document is incorporated into the 
system. 
8.1.5. 
What happens if a document is registered but not transmitted?48 
As said elsewhere in this manual (see 4.1.1), one of the main purposes of document 
registration is to certify transmission from an author to a recipient. Ideally this 
means that a document should not be registered until it has been sent. However, for 
practical reasons this is often not possible, given that one of the practical operations 
of registration (see 5.1) usually is to put the registration number on the document. 
Obviously, in a mixed paper/electronic document management system, such as the 
one currently used in the Commission, it is not possible to first send off a document, 
and then write a registration number on it. 
This is why the definition of a formally drawn up document (see 8.1.4) states that a 
document is formally drawn up and should be registered only when it is ready for 
formal transmission. In other words, registration should be the very last operation 
before the document is actually sent, and the two operations must in principle be 
carried out directly one after the other and on the same day. 
However, if for practical reasons registration and transmission has to be two 
separate operations, the possibility exists that a document is registered but for some 
reason not actually transmitted. If this happens, the document can no longer be 
considered drawn up, and the registration will have to be cancelled. This is not done 
by erasing the record of registration, but by adding a comment or notification to it, 
explaining why and when the registration had to be cancelled. 
                                                                                                                                                 
46   Of course, the author in the formal sense, and the one doing the actual typing may very well be the 
same person, but this is beside the point. The key issue here is responsibility. 
47   By “recipient” is, of course, meant one recipient or several, depending on circumstances. 
48   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
37 (56) 

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link to page 36 8.1.6. 
What is a document for continuous use? When is it drawn up?49 
Certain documents do not fall under the definition above (8.1.4), because they are 
meant for continuous use. A typical example of this kind of document would be a 
register50. It makes no difference if the document is on paper (for example a 
registration ledger) or in electronic format. 
For all practical purposes such a document is never finished. There is always the 
possibility of some more information (another entry in the register, another post in 
the database, etc.) being added. 
This type of document is called a document for continuous use. It is considered 
formally drawn up when it has been approved as ready to receive the first entry of 
information. 
A document for continuous use is approved as ready to receive the first entry of 
information  when it is made available to its users for entering the intended 
information.  If the document is available to its users, it is approved as ready, and 
thus formally drawn up, even though no entry of information has yet been made. 
Intended information is that for which the document has been conceived. Making 
for example an electronic registration tool available to its users for testing does not 
constitute approval as ready, just as information entered for test purposes does not 
constitute intended information. 
8.1.7. 
When is a document considered received?51 
 
A document is considered received when it is available to the service(s) for which 
it is intended. 
Available means that the document has arrived at the premises of the service, or has 
been handed to an official competent to deal with the document, or can be accessed 
through an information system available to the service. 
In the case of a document accessible through an information system, there must 
also be intention of transmission from the author to the Commission. For example, a 
document is not received by the Commission simply because it is accessible via a 
website somewhere in the world. If, however, someone makes it known to the 
Commission that a document, which that someone wishes the Commission to have, 
                                                 
 
 
49   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
50   Registers and databases are, of course, documents in their own right, since they fall well within the 
basic definition of a document: any content independent of medium. 
51   The text of this point is not based on any source document. 
38 (56) 

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link to page 11 link to page 11 is available at a certain web address, the document in question is then considered 
received by the Commission52, and should immediately be downloaded and 
processed for possible registration in the same way as a document received by post. 
An official competent to deal with the document is either an official involved in 
the handling of the matter to which the document is related, or an official charged 
with the task of receiving or treating incoming documents. 
A document handed to an official competent to deal with it is considered available 
to the service at the moment of handing over, no matter where or when this takes 
place. If the document fulfils the conditions for registration (see 4.2.1), it must then 
be registered as soon as practically possible. 
A document handed to any other official is not considered available to the service 
at the moment of handing over, but must, of course, be forwarded to an  official 
competent to deal with it as soon as practically possible. 
Tenders, or similar documents, sent under sealed cover to be opened at a certain 
date and hour obviously cannot be registered until this date and hour has arrived and 
they have been opened. After opening they are considered received on the date of 
the postmark. 
8.1.8. 
When is a document considered important and not short-lived? 
When deciding if a document falls under the obligation of registration, the key issue 
will often be the third criterion (see 4.2.1), that is to say if the document is 
important and not short-lived. It is normally fairly straightforward to decide if a 
document has been received or formally established (first criterion), and likewise to 
know if it is likely to require action, follow-up or a reply, or involves the 
responsibility of the Commission (second criterion). 
Important  and not short-lived, on the other hand, are criteria subject to subtle 
judgement. What is important? What is unimportant? Just how short is short-lived? 
These judgments will of course vary with the content and context of the document. 
The following should therefore be seen as indicative advice to help make those 
judgments rather than strict and absolute rules. 
The Implementing rules on registration give a good indication on how to think when 
deciding about the importance of a document, by saying that a document is 
unimportant and short-lived if its loss “would not prevent the departments 
concerned meeting the Commission’s administrative or evidential needs”.53 
                                                 
 
 
52   Provided, of course, that the document can actually be found and identified at the given web address. 
53   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
footnote 12. 
39 (56) 

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In other words, when judging the importance of a document one should consider the 
effect of not having it available when accounting for the actions based on the 
content of that document. Has the Commission (at any level, from the College of 
Commissioners via a DG or other department to an individual official) made a 
decision, paid out money, entered into a legal obligation, or taken some other kind 
of action based on a certain document? Would the document be needed if that action 
at some point had to be defended or explained? Or would the document be 
necessary to prove that the Commission has fulfilled its legal, financial, 
administrative or other obligations? If yes, the document is important. 
This importance may of course be short-lived. After a short time, it no longer 
matters if the action can be defended or explained. This is simple enough. The 
difficulty is of course to identify the (more or less) exact limit of a short time. The 
Implementing rules talk about the value of a document being clearly temporary, and 
rapidly lapsing.54 It seems reasonable to assume that this should be measured in 
weeks rather than months, and for the purposes of this manual short-lived is 
considered to be a time span of about two to four, and certainly no longer than six 
weeks. 
However it is essential to consider not only the importance of the document itself, 
but also to evaluate its aggregate value together with similar documents. For 
example, the Code of good administrative behaviour lays down certain obligations 
and deadlines for answering correspondence from the public. The standard deadline 
is 15 working days.55 The subject matter of such correspondence may very well be 
of no importance whatsoever for the Commission, or maybe next week it will have 
lost any importance it first had. However, the Commission might have to prove that 
it has fulfilled its obligation to answer within the deadline. In particular the 
Commission is quite likely to have to prove that it has systematically answered all 
correspondence from the public within the deadline. To do this, track must be kept 
of both the incoming correspondence and the outgoing answers. In other words, 
while they are often unimportant individually they are important together and must 
thus be registered. 
                                                 
 
 
54   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
footnote 12. 
55   Code of good administrative behaviour for the staff of the European Commission in their relations 
with the public, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by Commission Decision No 
2000/633/EC, ECSC, EURATOM, article 4. 
40 (56) 

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8.2.  Descriptive data (metadata) 
8.2.1. 
What is descriptive data (metadata)? 
The terms descriptive data and metadata are completely synonymous. They can be 
defined as information describing some other information. A document is, of 
course, a piece of information in its own right. When a document is registered, a 
description of it is created, saved, and permanently attached to the document. This 
description typically contains information elements like who is the author of the 
document, what is its title, when was it received, what is its registration number, etc. 
All these information elements are descriptive data – they describe the document 
they relate to. 
The two terms descriptive data and metadata are used interchangeably in this 
manual. 
8.2.2. 
What is essential descriptive data? 
Essential descriptive data is descriptive data that must be created and saved if it 
exists for the document in question. If, exceptionally, a certain type of essential 
descriptive data does not exist for a given document, the document must be 
registered without it, leaving the relevant field empty, or (if possible) with the 
mention no data or similar. 
41 (56) 
 

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link to page 11 link to page 8  
 
8.3.  Register and inventory 
8.3.1. 
What is a register, what is an inventory and what is the difference between 
them? 
If a document fulfils certain conditions (see 4.2.1), it must be registered. The tool, 
computerised or not, used for this action is called a register and the action is called 
to register. 
If a document does not fulfil the conditions just mentioned registration is no longer 
mandatory. Nevertheless, it might sometimes be necessary or of interest to manage a 
document even though it does not have to be registered. The tool, computerised or 
not, used for such an action is called an inventory, and the action is called to list.56 
The essential functional difference is thus that registration is mandatory and must 
be done if a document fulfils certain conditions, while listing  a document in an 
inventory is optional. 
There is also a formal difference between register and inventory. A register must 
certify transmission with due regard to established forms and procedures, but also 
serve other purposes (see 4.1.1), among them to identify and keep track of 
documents. An inventory, on the other hand, mainly serves to identify a document, 
and does not have to certify transmission, form or procedure. 
Finally, the terms register and inventory not only designates the specific tools used 
to carry out the tasks of registering or listing. They also mean these tools plus all the 
metadata they contain about the registered or listed documents. 
                                                 
 
 
56   From a terminological point of view it is important to note that it is not possible to  register a 
document in an inventory.  You register in a register, and list in an inventory. Furthermore, the 
practical action of typing information into a register (or an inventory for that matter) is to encode, and 
not to register. 
42 (56) 
 

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link to page 11 link to page 41 link to page 15  
 
8.4.  What types of registers are there at the Commission? 
8.4.1. 
Primary registers 
Primary registers at the Commission are registers for mandatory registration (see 
4.2.1) of documents, which are used by officials to directly capture descriptive data 
(see 8.2) concerning these documents. It should be noted here that although these 
primary registers are mainly intended for internal use, they are of course also 
documents in their own right and as such subject to demands for access. 
In accordance with the legal basis for document management, there are several 
types of primary registers at the Commission. 
(1) 
General register 
The general register is the main tool. At the moment of writing, this tool at 
the Commission is Adonis, and the general register’s main purpose is 
registering incoming and outgoing correspondence.57 
(2) 
Specific registers 
Any registration tool separate from the general register and used for 
mandatory registration of documents is considered a specific register. To 
qualify as a specific register, such a tool must also fully comply with the 
implementation rules on registration.58 
There is no limit to the number of specific registers that may be used. Some 
may exist mainly because they are considered useful, others because they are 
mandatory according to the legal basis for document management. However, 
there are two basic types of specific registers: for non-classified and for EU 
classified information. 
(a) 
Specific registers for non-classified documents 
These are normally registers used for a specific procedure or purpose, or for 
a specific type of documents. Some examples are CIS-Net (used to register 
documents in connection with the procedure for Interservice consultations) 
and the Central Invoices Register (used to register invoices sent to the 
Commission). The tools and systems used for these specific registers may 
also include functions for the procedural or workflow treatment (see 4.3) of 
                                                 
 
 
57   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article III(a) and footnote 5. 
58   Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management, SEC(2003)349/1, 
article III(b) and footnote 6. 
43 (56) 
 

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the documents involved. In this context, however, they are of interest only 
because of their function as specific registers. 
(b) 
Specific EU classified information (EUCI) registers 
There are four levels of EU classified information, ranging from the lowest, 
EU RESTRICTED, via EU CONFIDENTIAL and EU SECRET to the 
highest, EU TOP SECRET.59 
Registration of documents classified EU CONFIDENTIAL or EU SECRET 
is the responsibility of one or more local EUCI registries in each 
department60, while registration of EU TOP SECRET documents is the 
responsibility of the central EU TOP SECRET registry (or possibly, if any 
such has been established, an EU TOP SECRET sub-registry).61 The 
resulting registers are considered specific registers even should they not 
fully comply with the implementation rules on registration. 
The Commission provisions on security do not specify any such 
responsibility for documents classified EU RESTRICTED. It can thus be 
inferred that EU RESTRICTED documents may be registered in the general 
register, or in various specific registers otherwise used for the registration of 
non-classified documents. 
However, such registration must make sure that the descriptive data recorded 
does  not contain any information protected by the EU RESTRICTED 
classification. Furthermore, the tool used for registration may have a 
function that makes it possible to give direct access to the document itself 
(for example by storing a scanned image of the document). Such a function 
should not be used for an EU RESTRICTED document, unless it is certain 
that the tool gives sufficient protection against unauthorised access. 
It is recommended that registers (general or specific) used for non-classified 
documents are not used to register EU RESTRICTED documents also, 
unless sufficient technical and administrative procedures are in place to 
ensure protection against unauthorised access. In this context, the option of 
using a separate specific register for EU RESTRICTED documents should 
always be considered. 
                                                 
 
 
59   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 16.1. 
60   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 22.1. 
61   Commission provisions on security, annexed to the Rules of procedure of the Commission by 
Commission Decision No 2001/844/EC, section 22.2.1. 
44 (56) 

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link to page 23 8.4.2. 
Secondary registers 
Secondary registers at the Commission are registers containing information about 
documents for which registration is mandatory, but which are not used to directly 
capture descriptive data. Instead, a secondary register is fed information from one or 
more primary registers (or other systems). 
(1) 
Public register 
The Commission must provide public access to a register of documents62, the 
coverage of which shall be gradually extended63. This is has been done by 
setting up a secondary register called the public register64. At the moment 
this register contains references only to certain types of documents65. 
This will, however, be gradually extended, and this public register must 
eventually contain references to all registered documents in the Commission, 
no matter in which primary register they have been registered. 
A very important difference between this public register and the primary 
registers supplying information for it is the essential descriptive data 
required. In other words, the mandatory set of metadata is different, being 
much more restricted for the public register compared with the various 
primary registers. 
For each document, the public register shall contain a reference number, the 
subject or title of the document (in all available languages) and/or a brief 
description of its content, an indication of its author, and the date on which it 
was drawn up, received, created or adopted.66 This is considerably less than 
the metadata demanded for primary registers at the Commission (see 5.4). 
Also, references in the public register must not contain any information 
protected by the exceptions on public access to documents.67 In other words, 
if a document contains information which is thus protected68, the official who 
                                                 
 
 
62   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 11(1). 
63   Detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, annexed to the Rules of 
procedure of the Commission by Commission Decision No 2002/937/EC, article 8(1). 
64   http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/regdoc/recherche.cfm?CL=en 
65   COM, SEC, and C documents, as well as agendas and minutes from Commission meetings. 
66   Detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, annexed to the Rules of 
procedure of the Commission by Commission Decision No 2002/937/EC, article 8(1); Regulation 
(EC) No 1049/2001, article 11(2). 
67   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 11(2). 
68   The exceptions for public access to documents are given in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 4. 
45 (56) 

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encodes the essential descriptive data must make sure that no protected 
information is included in any reference which will (immediately or later on) 
be displayed in the public register. 
Finally, sensitive documents may appear in a public register only with the 
consent of the originator.69 
                                                 
 
 
69   Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, article 9(3). 
46 (56) 

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9. GLOSSARY 
9.1.  English–French 
addressee destinataire 
author auteur 
document management 
gestion des documents 
drawn up 
établi 
encode encoder 
incoming mail 
arrivée 
inventory répertoire 
list [in an inventory] (verb) 
répertorier 
outgoing mail 
départ 
received reçu 
register (noun) 
registre 
register (verb) 
enregistrer 
 
47 (56) 
 

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9.2.  Français–anglais 
arrivée incoming 
mail 
auteur author 
départ outgoing 
mail 
destinataire addressee 
encoder encode 
enregistrer register 
(verb) 
établi drawn 
up 
gestion des documents 
document management 
reçu received 
registre register 
(noun) 
répertoire inventory 
répertorier 
list [in an inventory] (verb) 
 
48 (56) 

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link to page 49 link to page 49  
 
10.  LEGAL BASIS / SOURCE DOCUMENTS 
The manual mainly refers to the following source documents: 
(1) 
“Registration and keeping registers of the Institution’s documents”. 
Implementing rules for Article 4 of the provisions on document management 
annexed to the Commission’s rules of procedure and to be applied in the 
Commission’s Directorates-General and equivalent departments, 
SEC(2003)349/1; in short implementing rules on registration or just 
implementing rules. 
(2) 
“Filing and the management of the Institution’s files”. Implementing rules 
for Article 5 of the provisions on document management annexed to the 
Commission’s rules of procedure and to be applied in the Commission’s 
Directorates-General and equivalent departments, SEC(2003)349/2; in short 
implementing rules on filing. 
(3) 
Provisions on document management, annexed to Commission Decision No 
2002/47/EC of 23 January 2002 amending its Rules of Procedure (OJ L 21, 
24.1.2002, p. 23); in short provisions on document management; 
(4) 
Detailed rules for the application of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European 
Parliament, Council and Commission documents, annexed to Commission 
Decision No 2001/937/EC of 5 December 2001 amending its Rules of 
Procedure (OJ L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 94); in short or rules for the application 
of regulation 1049/2001; 
(5) 
Commission provisions on security, annexed to Commission Decision No 
2001/844/EC of 29 November 2001 amending its internal Rules of 
Procedure (OJ L 317, 3.12.2001, p. 2); in short Commission provisions on 
security; 
(6) 
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, 
Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43); in short 
regulation 1049/2001 or public access regulation; 
(7) 
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the 
processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on 
the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1); in short regulation 
45/2001 or personal data regulation. 
The above documents are interrelated in the following manner. 
The implementing rules on registration (1) are based on the provisions in articles 4 
and 12 of the provisions on document management (3) and constitute the most 
important part of the legal base for registration as an aspect of document 
management in the Commission. 
49 (56) 
 

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link to page 49 link to page 49 link to page 49 link to page 49 link to page 49 link to page 49 link to page 49 The implementing rules on filing (2) are based on the provisions in articles 5 and 12 
of the provisions on document management (3). In the context of registration, they 
give very important rules on how documents shall be incorporated into the 
Commission’s document management system.70 
The  provisions on document management (3) are mainly concerned with the 
Commission’s internal needs for and organisation of document management. 
Although it also explicitly mentions public access to documents as an important 
object for document management, it does not follow directly from regulation 
1049/2001. 
Regulation 1049/2001 (6) establishes the ground rules concerning public access to 
documents in the institutions. Following the adoption of this regulation, the 
Commission has twice amended its internal rules of procedure. The rules for the 
application of regulation 1049/2001 (4)  then gives more detailed rules for how 
regulation 1049/2001 shall be applied in the Commission. 
Finally, all the above documents refer to regulation 45/2001 (7) on processing of 
personal data and/or the Commission provisions on security (5), while the two latter 
(directly or indirectly) refers back to some or all of the documents on document 
management and public access to documents. 
The manual also refers to the following source documents: 
(8) 
Note à l’attention des membres du Groupe de liaison DMO – IRM, Objet : 
Code dossier dans NomCom, 2003 SG.G.3/es D(2003) 31410, 15.12.2003. 
(9) 
Metadata of registered document, ADMIN/DI/SSI-SAI/NAP D(2003). The 
text in this manual is based on draft version 3.7, dated 10 September 2003. 
(10)  Security Directorate, Security Notice 06, version 06.06.2002. 
(11)  Protocol and Security Service. Security Notice 01/2001, update 1, 
12.12.2001. 
(12)  Code of good administrative behaviour for the staff of the European 
Commission in their relations with the public, annexed to the Rules of 
procedure of the Commission by Commission Decision No 2000/633/EC, 
ECSC, EURATOM, article 4. 
                                                 
 
 
70   The implementing rules on registration and filing are to be followed by implementing rules on storage 
and appraisal and transfer to the Historical Archives respectively, neither of which had been adopted 
at the moment of writing (May 2004). 
50 (56) 

---

 
 
11.  ANNEX 1 (LIST OF VERSIONS) 
(1) 
20.5.2003–12.5.2004 Draft 
versions 
1.0–9.5  For use in the ad-hoc 
working group. 
(2) 
13.5.2004 
Draft version 9.6 
For final consultation of the 
ad-hoc working group. 
(3) 
25.5.2004 
Draft version 9.7 
Draft after final consultation 
(13-24.05.2004) of the ad-
hoc working group. 
(4) 
25.6.2004 
Draft version 10.0 
Final  draft  after  final 
consultation 
(13-24.05.2004) of the ad-
hoc working group and after 
consultation 
(27.05-08.06.2004) of the 
DMO of the Legal Service. 
(5) 
30.6.2004 
Version 1.0. 
Adopted by SG.B.3. 
51 (56) 
 

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12.  ANNEX 2 (TRANSLITERATION TABLES)71 
In the following tables the transliterated characters (that is to say those to be used 
instead of the original characters) are given in upper-case only. If descriptive data 
(see 8.2) is encoded using both upper- and lower-case (see 5.4.12), the transliterated 
characters may of course be used in both upper- and lower-case as well. 
12.1. 
Symbols 
€ 
is written as 
EUR 
12.2. 
French 
ç  
is written as 
C 
œ  
is written as 
OE 
All accents are left out. 
12.3. 
Italian 
All accents are left out. 
12.4. 
German and Estonian 
ä, Ä 
is written as 
AE 
ö  
is written as 
OE 
ü  
is written as 
UE 
ß  
is written as 
SS 
12.5. 
Icelandic 
ð, Ð  
is written as 
D 
æ  
is written as 
AE 
þ, Þ  
is written as 
TH 
                                                 
 
 
71   Copied from Manuel d’utilisation d'ADONIS au sein d'ECHO, version du 28/07/2003, entrée en 
vigueur le 15/10/2001. 
52 (56) 
 

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ö  
is written as 
OE 
The accents on á, é, í, ó, ú, and ý are left out. 
12.6. 
Nordic languages 
æ  
is written as 
AE 
ø  
is written as 
OE 
å  
is written as 
AA 
ä  
is written as 
AE 
ö  
is written as 
OE 
All accents are left out. 
12.7. 
Slavonic languages that use the roman alphabet 
The hacek (for example š) above c, C, r, R, s, S, z, Z and after d, k, l, t is left 
out. 
12.8. 
Spanish 
ñ  
is written as 
N 
The accents on á, é, í, ó, ú and ü are left out. 
53 (56) 

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12.9. 
Greek alphabet 
Greek Roman 
α 
Α 
A 
αυ 
ΑΥ 
AV*, AF** 
β 
Β 
V 
γ 
Γ 
G 
γγ 
ΓΓ 
NG 
γξ 
ΓΞ 
NX 
γχ 
ΓΧ 
NCH 
δ 
Δ 
D 
ε  
Ε  
E 
ευ EY EV*, EF** 
ζ 
Ζ 
Z 
η 
Η 
I 
ηυ  
ΗΥ  
IV*, IF** 
θ 
Θ 
TH 
ι 
Ι 
I 
κ 
Κ 
K 
λ 
Λ 
L 
μ 
Μ 
M 
μπ 
ΜΠ 
B***, MP**** 
ν 
Ν 
N 
ξ 
Ξ 
X 
ο 
Ο 
O 
ου 
ΟΥ 
OU 
π 
Π 
P 
ρ 
Ρ 
R 
σ, ς 
Σ 
S 
τ 
Τ 
T 
υ 
Υ 
Y 
φ 
Φ 
F 
χ 
Χ 
CH 
ψ 
Ψ 
PS 
ω 
Ω 
O 
All accents are left out. 
Notes: 
* 
Before all vowels and before the consonants 
 
β, γ, δ, ξ, μ, ν, ρ 
** 
At the end of the word and before the consonants 
 
θ, κ, ζ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ  
***  at  the beginning of the word 
**** in the middle of or at the end of the word 
54 (56) 

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12.10. 
Cyrillic alphabet 
Cyrillic Used 
in 
ADONIS 
Printed 
Russian Ukrainian  Byelo-
Serbian Macedonian Bulgarian 
russian 
a A x x x 
x  x  x  A 
б 
Б x x x x  x  x  B 
в 
В x x x x  x  x  V 
г 
Г x     x  x  x  G 
г 
Г  x x    
  GH 
д 
Д x x x x  x  x  D 
ђ 
Ђ      x   
  DJ 
ѓ 
Ѓ        x    G 
e(ё) E(Ё) x 
x 
x  x 
x 
x 
E 
є 
Є  x     
  JE 
ж 
Ж x  x  x x  x 
x  ZH 
з 
З x x x x  x  x  Z 
ѕ 
Ѕ        x    DZ 
и 
И x x x x  x  x 
I 
і 
І  x x 
      I 
ї 
Ї  x        II 
ј 
Ј    
x  x    J 
й 
Й x x x  
 
x 
J 
к 
К x x x x  x  x  K 
л 
Л x x x x  x  x 
L 
љ 
Љ      x  x 
 
LJ 
м 
М x  x  x x  x 
x 
M 
н 
Н X x  x x  x 
x 
N 
њ 
Њ      x  x 
  NJ 
55 (56) 

---

 
о 
О x x x x  x  x  O 
п 
П x x x x  x  x 
P 
р 
Р x x x x  x  x  R 
с 
С x x x x  x  x  S 
т 
Т x x x x  x  x  T 
ћ 
Ћ      x   
  CJ 
ќ 
Ќ        x    K 
у 
У x x x x  x  x 
U 
ў 
Ў    x    
  W 
ф 
Ф x  x  x x  x 
x 
F 
х 
Х x x x x  x  x  KH 
ц 
Ц x x x x  x  x  TS 
ч 
Ч x X x x  x  x  CHI 
џ 
Џ      x  x    DZ. 
ш 
Ш x  X  x x  x 
x  SHE 
щ 
Щ x  X     
 
x  SHCH 
ъ 
Ъ x X x  
 
x 
'' 
ы 
Ы x    x   
 
 
Y 
ь 
Ь x X x    
x 
' 
э 
Э x    x  
 
  EH 
ю 
Ю x  X  x   
 
x  YU 
я 
Я x X x  
 
x  YA 
 
 
56 (56) 

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Document Outline

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• 2. FORMAT
• 3. BASIC DEFINITIONS
  • 3.1. Document
    • 3.1.1. What is a document?
    • 3.1.2. When is a document considered formally drawn up?
    • 3.1.3. When is a document considered received?
• 4. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF DOCUMENT REGISTRATION
  • 4.1. Purpose
    • 4.1.1. Why register?
    • 4.1.2. Which are the “minimum requirements” regarding form?
    • 4.1.3. When is a document presented for registration “in accordance with an established or generally recognised procedure”?
  • 4.2. Registration and listing in an inventory
    • 4.2.1. Which documents must be registered?
    • 4.2.2. Which documents may be listed in an inventory?
    • 4.2.3. Can a document be registered or listed more than once?
    • 4.2.4. Are there documents that do not have to be registered?
    • 4.2.5. When does a document have to be registered?
    • 4.2.6. Are there documents exchanged within a department that must be registered?
    • 4.2.7. Why is registration important for public access to documents?
  • 4.3. What is the difference between registration and document workflow?
  • 4.4. What is the difference between registration and document storage?
• 5. REGISTRATION IN PRACTICE
  • 5.1. Which are the practical operations of registration?
  • 5.2. If a document is both listed and registered, which number should it bear?
  • 5.3. Step-by-step analysis of a document
    • 5.3.1. Analysis of a drawn up document
    • 5.3.2. Analysis of a received document
    • 5.3.3. Analysis to check if a document falls under the exceptions to registration
  • 5.4. Rules for encoding essential descriptive data (metadata)
    • 5.4.1. General rules
    • 5.4.2. General rules for encoding dates
    • 5.4.3. Date of the document
    • 5.4.4. Date of registration
    • 5.4.5. Registration number (unique identifier)
    • 5.4.6. Author of the document
    • 5.4.7. Department or body to which an author belongs
    • 5.4.8. Addressee of the document
    • 5.4.9. Department or body to which an addressee belongs
    • 5.4.10. Level of security classification of the document
    • 5.4.11. Security designators and markings of the document
    • 5.4.12. Title or subject of the document
    • 5.4.13. Type of document concerned
    • 5.4.14. Relevant heading of the filing plan
    • 5.4.15. File title
    • 5.4.16. Number of attachments
    • 5.4.17. Brief description of attachments
• 6. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
• 7. REGISTRATION OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
  • 7.1. EU Classified Information (EUCI) documents
  • 7.2. Security markings
• 8. DEFINITIONS
  • 8.1. Document
    • 8.1.1. What is a document?
    • 8.1.2. Is there such a thing as an official document?
    • 8.1.3. How can an individual document unit be identified?
    • 8.1.4. When is a document considered formally drawn up?
    • 8.1.5. What happens if a document is registered but not transmitted?
    • 8.1.6. What is a document for continuous use? When is it drawn up?
    • 8.1.7. When is a document considered received?
    • 8.1.8. When is a document considered important and not short-lived?
  • 8.2. Descriptive data (metadata)
    • 8.2.1. What is descriptive data (metadata)?
    • 8.2.2. What is essential descriptive data?
  • 8.3. Register and inventory
    • 8.3.1. What is a register, what is an inventory and what is the difference between them?
  • 8.4. What types of registers are there at the Commission?
    • 8.4.1. Primary registers
    • 8.4.2. Secondary registers
• 9. GLOSSARY
  • 9.1. English–French
  • 9.2. Français–anglais
• 10. LEGAL BASIS / SOURCE DOCUMENTS
• 11. ANNEX 1 (LIST OF VERSIONS)
• 12. ANNEX 2 (TRANSLITERATION TABLES)
  • 12.1. Symbols
  • 12.2. French
  • 12.3. Italian
  • 12.4. German and Estonian
  • 12.5. Icelandic
  • 12.6. Nordic languages
  • 12.7. Slavonic languages that use the roman alphabet
  • 12.8. Spanish
  • 12.9. Greek alphabet
  • 12.10. Cyrillic alphabet

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