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"B COUNCIL DECISION
of 6 December 1999
on the improvement of information on the Council’s legislative activities and the public register of Council
documents
(2000/23/EC)
(OJ L 9, 13.1.2000, p. 22)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
"M1 Council Decision 2000/527/EC of 14 August 2000 L 212 9 23.8.20002000D0023 — EN — 23.08.2000 — 001.001 — 1
COUNCIL DECISION
of 6 December 1999
on the improvement of information on the Council’s legislative activities
and the public register of Council documents
(2000/23/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to its Rules of Procedure, and in particular Article 8 thereof,Whereas:(1) Openness is vital for democracy and accountability within the
European Union and information to the public is one of the
instruments to enhance such openness;
(2) Without prejudice to Council Decision 93/731/EC of 20 December
1993 on public access to Council documents (
1) and to the principles
and limits governing the right of access to documents to be adopted
under Article 255 of the Treaty establishing the European Community:
— further efforts should be made to improve information on the
Council’ s legislative activities as defined in Article 6 of its Rules
of Procedure,
— measures should be taken to enhance further the performance of
the public register of Council documents accessible on the Internet
(http://ue.eu.int) since 1 January 1999,
— the Council’ s internal procedures for public access to its
documents should be further rationalised by using informationtechnologies and avoiding excessive bureaucracy,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The General Secretariat of the Council shall make accessible to the public a
list of the items on the provisional agendas of meetings of the Council and its
preparatory bodies referring to cases where the Council acts in its legislativecapacity, as defined in Article 6 of its Rules of Procedure.
This list shall include references to the documents considered in respect of
those items. It shall be available in advance of the respective meeting and be
updated in case of any changes.
Article 2
The public register of Council documents shall also include references to the
document number and the subject matter of classified documents. Noreference shall be made to the subject matter if disclosure of this information
could undermine:
— the protection of the public interest (public security, the security and
defence of the Union or one of its Member States, military ornon-military crisis management, international relations, monetary-stabil-ity, court proceedings, inspections and investigations),
— the protection of the individual and of privacy,
— the protection of commercial and industrial secrecy,— the protection of the Community’s financial interests,— the protection of confidentiality as requested by the natural or legal
person who supplied any of the information contained in the document or
as required by the legislation of the Member State which supplied any ofthat information.!B
(1) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 43. Decision as amended by Decision 96/705/EC, ECSC,
Euratom (OJ L 325, 14.12.1996, p. 19).!M1
!B2000D0023 — EN — 23.08.2000 — 001.001 — 2
!M1
The public register of Council documents contains no reference to documents
classified TRÈS SECRET/TOP SECRET or SECRET or CONFIDENTIEL
within the meaning of the Decision of the Secretary-General of the
Council/High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of27 July 2000 on measures for the protection of classified informationapplicable to the General Secretariat of the Council, on matters concerning
the security and defence of the Union or of one or more of its Member States
or on military or non-military crisis management.
Article 3
As soon as the necessary technical preparations have been made and at the
latest by 1 July 2000, it shall be indicated in the register which documentshave already been released to the public, and their content shall be made
available on the Internet.
Article 4
This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal.
It shall take effect as from 1 January 2000.!B2000D0023 — EN — 23.08.2000 — 001.001 — 3