2001/840/EC: Council Decision of 29 November 2001 amending the Council's Rules of Procedure
Date: 2001-11-29
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Council of the European Union, EU publication, access to EU information, rules of procedure

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II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 29 November 2001

amending the Council's Rules of Procedure

(2001/840/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 207(3) and Article 255(3)
thereof,

Article 1

In accordance with Article 255(2) of the Treaty, Regula-
tion (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 (1) defines the general principles, conditions
and limits governing the right of access to documents
provided for in Article 255(1) of the Treaty.

The Council's Rules of Procedure are hereby amended as
follows:

1. Article 10 shall be replaced by the following and the text of

footnote 1 shall be deleted:

‘Article 10

Public access to Council documents

The specific provisions regarding public access to Council
documents are set out in Annex III.’;

2. Article 17(1)(g) shall be replaced by the following:

Article 255(3) of the Treaty provides that the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall elabo-
rate in their Rules of Procedure specific provisions
regarding access to their documents.

‘(g) international agreements concluded by the Community.

Reference shall be made in the Official Journal to the
entry into force of such agreements.’;

On the basis of
its Rules of Procedure adopted by
Decision 2000/396/EC, ECSC, Euratom (2), the Council
has adopted a series of acts regarding access to its docu-
ments. Those acts should be consolidated in a single text
incorporating, in an annex to the Rules of Procedure,
both the unchanged provisions and the substantive
amendments to those acts and new provisions which are
to be made in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001,

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(2) OJ L 149, 23.6.2000, p. 21. Decision as amended by Decision

2001/216/EC (OJ L 81, 21.3.2001, p. 30).

3. the following point shall be added to Article 17(1):

‘(h) international agreements concluded in accordance with
Article 24 of the Treaty on European Union, unless the
Council decides otherwise on the grounds of Articles 4
and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the Euro-
pean Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council
and Commission documents (*).

Reference shall be made in the Official Journal to the
entry into force of such agreements.

(*) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.’;

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

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4. the following Annex shall be added:

‘ANNEX III

the same
time period of at
time, the third party's attention shall be drawn to Article
243 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

least 10 working days. At

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS REGARDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO
COUNCIL DOCUMENTS

Article 3

Article 1

Scope

Any natural or legal person shall have access to Council
documents subject to the principles, conditions and limits
laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the
specific provisions laid down in this Annex.

Article 2

Consultation as regards third-party documents

For the purpose of applying Article 4(5) and Article
1.
9(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and unless it is
clear, upon examination of the document in the light of
(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/
Article 4(1),
the third party
it
that
2001,
concerned shall be consulted if:

shall not be disclosed,

(a) the document is a sensitive document as defined in

Article 9(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001;

Requests for consultation received from other institu-
tions or from Member States

Requests for consultations with the Council made by
another
institution or a Member State concerning an
application for a Council document shall be sent via e-
mail to access@consilium.eu.int or by fax to +32(0)2 285
6361.

The General Secretariat shall give its opinion on behalf of
the Council promptly, taking into account any time limit
required for a decision to be made by the institution or
the Member State concerned, and at the latest within five
working days.

Article 4

Documents originating from Member States

Any request by a Member State under Article 4(5) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall be made in writing
to the General Secretariat.

(b) the document originates from a Member State and

— was submitted to the Council before 3 December

Article 5

2001; or

Referral of requests by Member States

— the Member State concerned requested that it not

be disclosed without its prior agreement.

2.
In all other cases, where the Council receives an
application for a third-party document in its possession,
the purpose of applying
the General Secretariat,
for
Article 4(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
shall
consult the third party concerned unless it is clear, upon
examination of the document in the light of Article 4(1),
it
(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
shall or shall not be disclosed.

that

The

third party shall be

3.
consulted in writing
(including by e-mail) and be given a reasonable time limit
for its reply, taking into account the time limit laid down
in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
In the
cases referred to in paragraph 1, the third party shall be
asked to give its opinion in writing.

When a Member States refers to a request to the Council,
it shall be handled in accordance with Articles 7 and 8
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the relevant provi-
sions of this Annex.
In the event of a total or partial
refusal of access, the applicant shall be informed that any
confirmatory application must be addressed directly to
the Council.

Article 6

Address for applications

Applications for access to a document shall be addressed
in writing to the Secretary-General of
the Council/High
Representative, rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175, B-1048 Brus-
sels, by e-mail
to access@consilium.eu.int or by fax to
+32(0)2 285 6361.

4. Where the document does not fall within paragraph
1(a) or (b) and the General Secretariat, in the light of the
third party's negative opinion, is not satisfied that Article
4(1) or (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is applic-
able, the Council shall be seized of the matter.

Article 7

Processing of initial applications

If the Council envisages the release of the document, the
third party shall be informed immediately in writing of
the Council's intention to release the document after a

Subject
to Article 9(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, any application for access to a Council docu-
ment shall be handled by the General Secretariat.

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Article 8

Processing of confirmatory applications

(a) documents of which neither

a
Member State is the author, which have been made
public by their author or with his agreement;

the Council nor

to Article 9(2) and (3) of Regulation (EC) No
Subject
1049/2001, any confirmatory application shall be decided
upon by the Council.

(b) provisional agenda of meetings of the Council

in its

various formations;

Article 9

Charges

The charges for producing and sending copies of Council
documents shall be set by the Secretary-General.

Article 10

Public register of Council documents

The General Secretariat

1.
shall be responsible for
providing public access to the register of Council docu-
ments.

to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of

In addition to the references to documents,

it shall
2.
be indicated in the register which documents drawn up
after 1 July 2000 have already been released to the
public. Subject
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 institu-
tions and bodies and on the free movement of such
data (1) and Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
their content shall be made available on the Internet.

(1) OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.

Article 11

Documents directly accessible to the public

1.
This Article shall apply to all Council documents,
provided that they are not classified and without preju-
dice to the possibility of making a written application in
accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/
2001.

2.

For the purpose of this Article:

— “circulation”

shall mean distribution of

the

version of a document
Council, their representatives or delegates;

to the members of

final
the

— “legislative document”

shall mean any document
concerning the examination and adoption of a legisla-
tive act within the meaning of Article 7 of the Coun-
cil's Rules of Procedure.

3.
The General Secretariat shall make the following
documents available to the public as soon as they have
been circulated:

(c) any text adopted by the Council and intended to be
the European

Journal

of

published in the Official
Communities.

Provided that they are clearly not covered by any of
4.
the exceptions laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001,
the General Secretariat may also make
the following documents available to the public as soon
as they have been circulated:

(a) provisional
parties;

agenda

of

committees

and working

(b) other documents, such as information notes, reports,
progress reports and reports on the state of discus-
sions in the Council or one of its preparatory bodies
which do not reflect
individual positions of delega-
tions, excluding Legal Service opinions and contribu-
tions.

The General Secretariat shall make the following
5.
legislative documents available to the public,
in addition
to the documents referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4, as
soon as they have been circulated:

(a) cover notes and copies of letters concerning legislative
acts addressed to the Council by other institutions or
bodies of the European Union or, subject to Article
4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, by a Member
State;

(b) notes submitted to Coreper and/or to the Council for
(“I/A” and “A” Item notes), as well as the

approval
draft legislative acts to which they refer;

(c) decisions adopted by the Council during the proce-
dure referred to in Article 251 of the EC Treaty and
joint texts approved by the Conciliation Committee.

6.
After adoption of one of the decisions referred to in
paragraph 5(c) or final adoption of the act concerned, the
General Secretariat shall make available to the public any
legislative documents
relating to this act which were
drawn up before one of such decisions and which are
not covered by any of
laid down in
Article 4(1), (2) and (3), second subparagraph, of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1049/2001,
information notes,
reports, progress reports and reports on the state of
discussions in the Council or in one of its preparatory
bodies
Legal
Service opinions and contributions.

(“outcomes of proceedings”),

the exceptions

excluding

such as

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At the request of a Member State, documents which are
covered by the first subparagraph and reflect
the indi-
vidual position of that Member State's delegation in the
Council shall not be made available to the public under
these provisions.’

(c) Council Decision 2001/320/EC of 9 April 2001 on
making certain categories of Council documents available
to the public (3).

Article 3

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on 3 December 2001.

The following acts are hereby repealed:

(a) Council Decision 93/731/EC of 20 December 1993 on

public access to Council documents (1),

(b) Council Decision 2000/23/EC of 6 December 1999 on
the improvement of information on the Council's legisla-
tive activities and the public register of Council docu-
ments (2),

Done at Brussels, 29 November 2001.

For the Council

The President

M. VANDERPOORTEN

(1) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 43. Decision as last amended by Decision

2000/527/EC (OJ L 212, 23.8.2000, p. 9).

(2) OJ L 9, 13.1.2000, p. 22. Decision as amended by Decision 2000/

527/EC.

(3) OJ L 111, 20.4.2001, p. 29.