WRITTEN QUESTION E-3705/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Undertaking not to issue documents retrieved from the Circa database.
Date: 2002-01-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law - national law, Sweden, access to information, confidentiality, database, electronic document, provision of documents, right to information

C 160 E/164

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

The Commission has observer status on EFRAG’s Supervisory Board and Technical Accounting Committee,
which is referred to in Recital 8 of the proposal for a Regulation on the application of international
accounting standards. The Committee consists of a group of independent experts and can be consulted by
all parties concerned,
including EFRAG founding federations and national accounting standardisation
bodies.

When EFRAG was set up, the founding members % the European Federation of Accountants (FEE), the
Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Banking Federation
(EBF), the European Savings Banking Group (ESBG), the European Cooperative Bankers’ Group (GEBC), the
European Insurance Committee (CEA), the European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (EFAA),
the European Association of Craft and Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises (UEAPME), the Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) and the European Federation of
Financial Analysts’ Societies (EFFAS) % agreed that EFRAG would be financed independently by annual
subscriptions. Independent organisations are commonly financed by members’ subscriptions. This method
of financing is not looked upon as financial discrimination.

At the meeting of the Supervisory Board on 20 September 2001, EFRAG’s chairman stated that he
intended to review the question of participation by organisations interested in EFRAG during 2002.

While acknowledging the independence of EFRAG, the Commission intends to ensure that it will be
possible for all parties concerned with financial reporting to express valid views on matters within their
purview. To that end, EFRAG has undertaken to publish agendas, minutes of meetings of the technical
accounting committee, its proposals and its calls for comments in order that any interested party can
express its opinions and views. EFRAG intends to establish a website in the coming months in order to
maximise access to this information. In the meantime, the information is available on the website of the
European Federation of Accountants (FEE) at www.fee.be.

(1) COM(2000) 359 final.

(2002/C 160 E/205)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3705/01

by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(17 January 2002)

Subject: Undertaking not to issue documents retrieved from the Circa database

According to various sources, including Dagens Nyheter of 24 February 2001, Swedish officials wishing to
gain access to the Circa database and obtain a password must sign an undertaking not to pass documents
retrieved from the database to anyone else.

As such material is necessary for monitoring the work of the Union, several Swedish officials, for instance
in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Board of Agriculture, have signed such an assurance.

But Swedish officials cannot give any such undertaking, for, under Sweden’s legislation on the disclosure of
information, any documents received by members of working parties immediately become public
documents held by government offices or by the authority concerned. Requests for the issue of such
documents have to be considered under Swedish rules,
irrespective of whether the Commission has
marked them confidential or restricted. Anything else would constitute an infringement of Sweden’s Law
on Official Secrets and Law on the Freedom of the Press.

Does the Commission take the view that documents Swedish officials retrieve from Circa must be exempt
from the provisions of Sweden’s Law on Official Secrets and Law on the Freedom of the Press?

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/165

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(20 March 2002)

The Commission would like to draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the fact that CIRCA is not,
strictly speaking, a database.
It is an application which was initially developed as part of the IDA
programme (exchange of data with Member States), allowing the exchange of electronic documents
between a group of identified users.

Access to CIRCA document directories is protected by a password so that the documents stored are
restricted to those for whom they are intended. Each department which uses CIRCA is responsible for
distribution of the documents it contains and can therefore make access subject to specific conditions.

The Honourable Member’s question mentions the need to sign an undertaking not to pass on the
documents without authorisation. A clause of this kind is an example of a specific condition that is linked
to the nature of the documents and is independent of the fact that they are distributed electronically.

It is therefore important to point out that the restriction applied to persons with access to the relevant
CIRCA directories would also apply if the documents had been made available to them by other means.

Users of CIRCA, other than Commission officials, belong to bodies or authorities in the Member States and
are given access because they represent the Member States in the institutions.

As regards ‘closed user groups’ of the CIRCA network in the Agriculture DG, access is strictly personal and
the confidential information on CIRCA is intended for personal use only and may not be divulged to
others or disseminated without prior written authorisation from the Commission.

This reserve clause, which exists because of the nature of the documents, should not pose any specific
problems of compatibility with national legislation in terms of confidentiality or access to information and
documents.

(2002/C 160 E/206)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0007/02

by Guido Sacconi (PSE), Paolo Bartolozzi (PPE-DE)
and Enrico Ferri (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(17 January 2002)

Subject: Incentives for young farmers in Tuscany

In the present situation an adequate rural development policy must include measures to reduce the average
age of farmers by helping young farmers to set up their own holdings. This is one of the priorities of EU
agricultural policy.

The Tuscany Region has taken consistent action to this end by implementing the 2000-2006 rural
development plan and was the first region in Italy to fund around 3 000 start-up projects for young
farmers, giving their applications priority.

The Directorate-General for Agriculture, placing form before substance, does not appear willing to accept
the revision of the funding plan proposed by the Tuscany Region to ensure that priority is given to young
farmers. Nor does it appear to be prepared to accept the new situation. Community cofinancing of
measures already taken therefore seems compromised and, as a result, both the Tuscany Region and the
national authority responsible for payments, which have already paid out the funds, are facing serious
difficulties.