1. CallsforthefollowingprovisionstobeaddedtoArticle194oftheECTreaty:‘Toavoidtheriskof
further infringements ofthe rights of a citizen drawing attention to non-compliance with a CommunityprovisionParliament,theCommissionandtheCouncilmay,underthecodecisionprocedureprovidedforinArticle251oftheTreatyandinaccordancewitharequestfromParliamentendorsedbytheCommis-sion,formulateanewwordingfortheCommunityprovisioninquestion’;
2. Calls on the Commission to consider measures to facilitate a rapid response in cases where the
parliamentary committee responsible, together with the Commission, establishes that a serious violationofCommunityenvironmentalorconsumerprotectionlegislationorlegislationfortheprotectionoffloraandfaunahasoccurred;
3. Considersthat, toimplementthese measures, provision shouldbemadefornew legal mechanisms
andsuitablyflexibleproceduresinvolvingParliamentandtheCommissionsothatimmediateactioncanbetakentobringtoanimmediateendtheoffendingactivity;
4. InstructsitsPresidenttoforwardthisresolutiontotheCouncil,theCommission,thegovernmentsof
theMemberStatesandtheIntergovernmentalConferenceresponsibleforamendmentoftheTreaties.
16. Ombudsman special report (Bavarian Lager Company) (procedure without
debate)
A5-0423/2001
European Parliament resolution on the Special Report to the European Parliament following the
draft recommendation to the European Commission in complaint 713/98/IJH (made in accordance
with Article3(7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman) (C5-0463/2001 Jdash 2001/2194(COS))
The European Parliament,
(dash having regard to the Special Report by the European Ombudsman to the European Parliament
(C5-0463/2001),
(dash havingregardtoArticles21,194,195,255and286oftheECTreaty,(dash havingregardtoArticles1and6oftheTreatyonEuropeanUnion,(dash having regard toits decision of 9March 1994onthe regulations andgeneral conditionsgoverning
theperformanceoftheOmbudsman’sduties(
1),
(dash havingregardtoArticle3(7)oftheStatuteoftheEuropeanOmbudsman,(dash having regard to its previous resolutions of 16July 1998 on the Special Report by the European
Ombudsmanonpublicaccesstodocuments(
2);of15May2001ontheinstitutionofthepetitionat
thedawnofthe21stcentury(3);of6September2001ontheEuropeanOmbudsman’sSpecialReport
onaCodeofGoodAdministrativeBehaviour(4),
(dash having regard toArticles8and10oftheEuropean ConventionfortheProtectionofHumanRights
andFundamentalFreedoms,
(dash having regard toArticle7,8,11,41and42ofthe Charter ofFundamentalRights ofthe European
Union,
(1) OJL113,4.5.1994,p.15.
(2) OJC292,21.9.1998,p.170.
(3) ‘TextsAdopted’,Item8.
(4) ‘TextsAdopted’,Item10.25.7.2002 EN C177E/61 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Tuesday 11 December 2001
(dash having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents of the European
Parliament,CouncilandCommission(1),
(dash havingregardtoDecision94/90/ECSC,EC,Euratom(2),
(dash having regard to Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24October
1995ontheprotectionofindividualswithregardtotheprocessingofpersonaldataandonthefreemovementofsuchdata(
3),
(dash having regard to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the
processingofpersonaldatabytheCommunityinstitutionsandbodiesandonthefreemovementofsuchdata(
4),
(dash havingregardtoOpinion5/2001oftheDataProtectionWorkingPartyof17May2001(5),
(dash havingregardtoRules47(1)and179(2)ofitsRulesofProcedure,(dash havingregardtothereportoftheCommitteeonPetitions(A5-0423/2001),
A. whereasanylimitationsoffundamentalrightsandfreedomsmustbeclearlydemarcatedandjustified
under Article6 of the Treaty on European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Free-
doms,
B. whereaswhenthereappearstobeacollisionbetweentwoormorefundamentalrightsorfreedoms,
the first step must be to examine whether or not all such rights are genuinely applicable to thesituationathand,
C. whereasthefundamentalrightsofrespectforprivateandfamilylifeandprotectionofpersonaldata
servetoprotecttheprivate lifeofindividualcitizensfromunauthoriseduseofpersonalinformationforcommercialpurposesandunjustifiedintrusionbypublicauthorities,
D. whereas the principles of good administrative behaviour require that an official responsible for the
fieldinquestionmustprovidethepublicwiththeinformationrequested,
E. whereas Directive 95/46/EC does not, therefore, apply to a request for information concerning the
namesofparticipantsrepresentingatradeorganisationtoameetingorganisedbytheCommission,
F. whereasArticle27ofDirective95/46/ECprovidesfortheadoptionbytradeorganisationsandother
bodies representing other categories of controllers codes of conduct intended to contribute to theproper implementation of the national provisions adopted by the Member States pursuant to thisDirective,
G. whereas draftCommunitycodes,andamendmentsorextensionstoexisting Communitycodes,may
besubmittedtotheWorkingPartyreferredtoinArticle29ofDirective95/46/EC,
H. whereassuchcodesofconductshouldguarantee,ontheonehand,thatunauthoriseduseisnotmade
of information concerning consumer behaviour and, on the other hand, that data protection is not
usedinordertoachievebenefitsofunfaircompetition,
I. whereas the right to information and expression are preconditions for the formation of democratic
willformationwithinasocietyand,thus,forthedemocraticlegitimacyofthatsociety,
J. whereastheobligationsetbyArticle1oftheTreatyonEuropeanUniontotakedecisionsasopenlyas
possiblelaysdownadutyforpublicauthorities,whichcorrespondstotheserights,
(1) OJL145,31.5.2001,p.43.
(2) OJL46,18.2.1994,p.58.
(3) OJL281,23.11.1995,p.31.
(4) OJL8,12.1.2001,p.1.
(5) 5003/00/EN/Final(dashWP44.C177E/62 EN25.7.2002 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Tuesday 11 December 2001
K. whereastheCourtofFirstInstancehasconsideredthat‘opennessenablescitizenstoparticipatemore
closelyinthedecision-makingprocessandguaranteesthatcitizenscancarryoutgenuineandefficientmonitoringoftheexerciseofthepowersvestedintheCommunityinstitutions’,
L. whereastherighttoinformationandexpression,therefore,isessentialalsofortheefficientfunction-
ingoftheinstitutions,
M. whereasactivitieswhichfallunderTitlesVandVIoftheTreatyonEuropeanUnionareexcludedfrom
theprotectionoftheserightsunderCommunitylaw,
1. Endorses the European Ombudsman’sconclusionand considers that the Commissionhas misinter-
pretedDirective95/46/ECwhenapplyingtheDirectivetoarequestforinformationconcerningthenamesofparticipantsrepresentingatradeorganisationtoameetingorganisedbytheCommission;
2. Considers,therefore, thattheCommissionshouldinformthecomplainantincomplaint713/98/IJH
of the names of the delegates of the ‘Confédération des brasseurs du marché commun’ who attended ameeting organised by the Commission on 11October 1996 and of companies and persons in the14categoriesidentifiedinthecomplainant’soriginalrequestforaccesstodocumentswhomadesubmis-sionstotheCommissionunderfilereferenceP/93/4490/YK;
3. Notesthatconflictsoftenexistbetweenthedemandfortransparencyandtheprotectionofpersonal
integrity;stressesthefactthattheaimofdataprotectionisprimarilytoprotecttheprivatelifeandsensi-tive information; considers therefore that data protection should not for instance be referred to whilepersons are acting in a public capacity, while they are taking part in public decision making on theirowninitiativeorwhiletheytrytoinfluencesuchdecisionmaking;
4. AskstheWorkingPartyonDataProtectionreferredtoinArticle29ofDirective95/46/ECtoinform
Parliament on codes of conduct on data protection adopted by trade organisations and other bodies ofcontrolinreferencetoArticle27(3)ofDirective95/46/EC,inparticularofcodessubmittedtoitforassess-ment of compatibility with provisions adopted by Member States; suggests that the Working Party, inorder to achieve true Community codes of conduct, takes account also of the scope of application ofRegulation(EC)No45/2001andParliament’sconsiderationswhenexaminingthecompatibilitywithCom-munity law of codes of conduct submittedto it; notesthat the Data Protection Supervisor, who will beengagedfortheEUinstitution,willbeboundbytheTreaties’principlesongreatertransparencyindecisionmaking;
5. Considersthat,inthelightofthefactthattheregulationonaccessintheEUwillcomeintoforcein
December 2001, an examination should be undertaken of the rules the Commission adopts and whichgiveconfidentialitytoinformants;
6. ProposestotheDataProtectionSupervisortodrawupmodelcodesofconductwiththeintentionof
ensuringrespectfortheconsumers’righttodataprotectionandinordertosetstandardswithaviewofpreventing the abuse of data protection for purposes of unfair competition or confidential influence on
Communityregulatoryorfinancialdecisions;
7. RegretstheenblocexclusionofTitlesVandVIoftheTreatyonEuropeanUnionfromthescopeof
applicationofDirective95/46/ECandRegulation(EC)No45/2001;
8. Calls on the European Council in Laeken to amend the Treaties in order to include, in principle,
activitiesfallingunderTitlesVandVIintothescopeofapplicationofArticle286oftheECTreaty;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and for information to the
European Ombudsman, the Council, the governments of the Member States, the Data Protection Super-visorandtheWorkingPartyonDataProtection.25.7.2002 EN C177E/63 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities
Tuesday 11 December 2001