Campaigners call for UK support against changes to EC transparency rules

Investigative journalists, press freedom organisations and human interest bodies from across 48 countries have joined a campaign against European Commission proposals reviewing the regulation of public access to documents.

The proposals, put foward by the European Commission in 2008, seek to amend Regulation 1049/2001, which outlines the rights of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

Campaigners say they expect a vote on the issue by parliamentary committees in the next few months and today called on more UK journalists to sign an open letter which was sent to MEPs today, calling on them to vote against the proposals.

So far 56 investigative journalists across Europe have added their name to the letter, which according to a list of signatories provided by one of the campaign co-ordinators ClientEarth, includes UK journalist and activist Heather Brooke.

According to text taken from the 2008 proposals, the definition of a "document" appears to be amended to state that it exists if "drawn-up by an institution and formally transmitted to one or more recipients or otherwise registered, or received by an
institution."

Data contained in electronic storage, processing and retrieval systems are also defined as documents "if they can be extracted in the form of a printout or electronic-format copy using the available tools for the exploitation of the system", the amendment adds.

Campaigners argue in a release that the proposed changes would allow member states greater power to keep communications with the EU secret:

"Proposals put forward by the European Commission would substantially reduce the number of public documents by denying access to e-mails and other documents sent within the EU that are not 'formally' transmitted, and by allowing individual Member States greater powers to keep their communications with the EU secret."

The European Ombudsman has previously raised concerns about the proposed definition of a document, saying it would mean "that, in many cases, citizens could only apply for access to a document if it appeared in a register" which he considered to be a "step backwards for transparency".

The European Commission has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Update

The spokesman for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration at the European Commission has since responded with the following statement:

"The Commission proposal from April 2008 is in no way a step backwards in terms of transparency. We believe that in general any document handed out today would also be handed out under an amended regulation as suggested by the Commission.

"The Commission proposal is based on rulings by the Court (case-law) and experience of working with the regulation over almost 10 years. One of the weaknesses we have identified is the vagueness of the definition of a document that leads inevitably to uncertainty about whether a few sentences on a paper, an initial draft text etc. can be considered a document in the sense of the Regulation.

"The Commission seeks to clarify this by proposing that a document 'exists' once it has been finished - defining this as having been drafted and sent to the intended recipient or put on the relevant file. Many Member states in the Council during the debates since 2008 accepted that there is an issue to be looked at and various early, informal alternative drafts were produced during the Swedish Presidency seeking to meet the objectives of the Commission amendment but through an alternative wording.

"The Commission's amendment is not aimed at restricting access and is completely open to discuss alternative texts that reach the same goal - greater legal clarity for the applicant and for the official handling the application."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).