Rules for access to Translation Centre documents
Date: 1997-11-17
Institutions: Translation Centre
Subjects: Community body, access to EU information, confidentiality, dissemination of EU information, translation

11.2.98

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  46/5

TRANSLATION  CENTRE  FOR  THE  BODIES  OF
THE  EUROPEAN  UNION

RULES  FOR  ACCESS  TO  TRANSLATION  CENTRE  DOCUMENTS

(98/C  46/07)

The  Management  Board  of  the  Translation  Centre  for
the  Bodies  of  the  European  Union  adopted  the  following
rules  for  access  to  Translation  Centre  documents  at  its
seventh  meeting  on  17  November  1997.

1.(cid:217)Introduction

The  Translation  Centre  for  the  Bodies  of  the  European
Union  was  established  by  Council  Regulation  (EC)  No
2965/94  (OJ  L(cid:216)314,  7.12.1994),  as  amended  by  Regu(cid:220)
lation  (EC)  No  2610/95  (OJ  L(cid:216)268,  10.11.1995)  to
provide 
the
the  necessary 
operation  of  the  following  bodies:

translation 

services 

for 

produced  by  other  institutions  and  bodies  of  the  Union.
Consequently  two  types  of  document  are  identified:

(a)(cid:217)documents  not  originating  at  the  Translation  Centre
but  rather  received  from  another  body  or  institution.
For  access  to  this  type  of  document,  the  person
seeking  information  must  always  be  referred  to  its
author,  for  the  original  as  well  as  for  the  translated
versions;

(b) documents  originating  within  the  Tranlation  Centre:
for  this  type  of  document,  the  following  rules  shall
apply.

-(cid:217)the  European  Environment  Agency,

3.(cid:217)Translation  Centre  documents

-(cid:217)the  European  Training  Foundation,

-(cid:217)the  European  Monitoring  Centre  for  Drugs  and

Drug  Addiction,

-(cid:217)the  European  Agency 
Medicinal  Products,

for 

the  Evaluation  of

-(cid:217)the  European  Agency  for  Health  and  Safety  at

Work,

-(cid:217)the  Office  for  Harmonisation  in  the  Internal  Market

(trade  marks  and  designs),

-(cid:217)the  European  Police  Office 

(Europol)  and 

the

Europol  Drugs  Unit,

-(cid:217)the  Community  Plant  Variety  Office.

Agencies  and  offices  set  up  by  the  Council  other  than
those  referred  to  above,  and  the  institutions  and  bodies
of  the  European  Union  which  already  have  their  own
translation  service  may  have  access  to  the  services  of  the
Translation  Centre.

These  are  documents  originating  within  the  Translation
Centre,  of  which  the  Centre  can  be  considered  to  be  the
owner  and  not  merely  a  depositary.

The  general  rule  for  these  documents  is  that  access
should  be  granted  to  applicants  unless  they  contain
information  falling  within  one  or  more  of  the  categories
listed  under  point  4.

To  obtain  access  to  a  document  or  information  of  the
Translation  Centre,  the  applicant  must  submit  a  request
in  writing  in  any  language  of  the  European  Union  to  the
Director  of  the  Centre,  who  is  responsible  for  handling
such  requests.  The  Director  shall  give  a  written  reply
within  one  month  of  registering  receipt  of  the  request;
this  reply  shall  always  be  in  the  working  language  used
by  the  applicant.

The  documents  requested  shall  either  be  sent  by  post  to
the  applicant,  or  made  available  on  appointment  for
consultation  on  the  premises  of  the  Centre.

4.(cid:217)Exceptions

2.(cid:217)Types  of  document

Access  shall  not  be  granted  to  documents 
disclosure  could  undermine:

if  their

The  task  of  the  Translation  Centre  being  thus  defined,  it
is  clear  that  the  Centre’s  role  is  not  to  take  political
the  documents
initiatives  but  merely 

translate 

to 

-(cid:217)protection  of  the  public 

international 
proceedings,  inspections  or  investigations),

relations,  monetary 

interest  (public  securtiy,
stability,  court

C  46/6

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

11.2.98

-(cid:217)protection  of  the  individual  and  privacy  (personal
files;  information,  opinions  or  appraisals  given  confi(cid:220)
dentially  with  regard  to  recruitment  or  appointments;
personal  information  on  any  individual,  including  a
deceased  person,  or  a  document  the  disclosure  of
which  might  undermine  or  contribute  to  the  under(cid:220)
mining  of  privacy),

-(cid:217)protection  of  commercial  and 

industrial 

secrecy
(information,  including  confidential  or  secret  matter
relating  to  trade  or  intellectual  property,  the  unauth(cid:220)
orised  disclosure  of  which  could  harm  the  competi(cid:220)
tiveness  of  a  third  party;  industrial,  financial  and
trade  information,  including  information  on  business
relations,  information  on  costs  and  tenders  submitted
in  response  to  invitations  to  tender),

-(cid:217)protection  of  the  Community’s  financial  interests,

-(cid:217)protection  of  confidentiality  as  requested  by  the
natural  or  legal  person  that  supplied  the  information
or  as  required  by  the  legislation  of  the  Member  State
that  supplied  the  information,

notes,  memos,  briefing  notes;  and  internal  documents
bearing  the  opinions  of  the  Translation  Centre’s
services).

5.(cid:217)Review  procedure

If  an  applicant  has  not  received  a  reply  from  the  Trans(cid:220)
lation  Centre  within  a  month  from  registration  of  receipt
of  the  request  for  access,  or  if  the  applicant  is  not
satisfied  with  a  reply  denying  access,  he  or  she  shall  have
one  month  from  the  date  the  reply  is  received  to  write  to
the  Chairperson 
the  Translation  Centre’s
Management  Board,  confirming  the  original  request  and
asking  for  a  review.  If  a  review  is  not  requested  within
this  period,  the  initial  request  shall  be  considered  to  be
withdrawn.

of 

If  the  denial  of  access  is  confirmed  after  the  review  of
the  application,  the  applicant  shall  be  informed  in  writing
and  within  one  month.  The  Tanslation  Centre  shall  give
reasons  for  its  decision  and  indicate  the  means  of  redress
available,  in  particular  the  possibility  of  referral  to  the
European  Ombudsman.

6.(cid:217)Miscellaneous

-(cid:217)protection  of  the  confidential  nature  of  the  Trans(cid:220)
lation  Centre’s  internal  discussions  (agendas  for  and
minutes  of  Management  Board  meetings  and  internal
meetings,  mission  reports,  progress  reports,  study

For  any  other  question  concerning  access  to  Translation
Centre  documents  not  explicitly  covered  by  these  rules,
the  standards  in  force  at  the  European  Commission  shall
apply  by  analogy  to  the  Translation  Centre  for  the
Bodies  of  the  European  Union.