Rules on public access to documents
Date: 2002-11-27
Institutions: European Investment Bank
Subjects: European Investment Bank, access to information, document

C 292/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

27.11.2002

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK

RULES ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

(2002/C 292/08)

With a view to providing the public with high-quality
information on its strategy, policies, activities and practices,
the European Investment Bank is committed to applying an
active information policy and to strengthening its efforts in
this field.

making basis, grant
facilitate the financing of
sectors of the economy’.

loans and give guarantees which
in all
investment projects

Rules on public access to documents

Whereas:

(1) The second subparagraph of Article 1 of the Treaty on
the concept of openness,
European Union enshrines
stating that
‘the Treaty marks a new stage in the
process of creating an ever closer union among the
in which decisions are taken as
peoples of Europe,
openly as possible and as closely as possible to the
citizen’.

(2) Article 255 of

the Treaty establishing the European
Community (hereinafter the Treaty) enshrines a right of
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents.

(3) The European Parliament and the Council have adopted
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access
and Commission
to European Parliament, Council
documents, whose purpose is to give the fullest possible
effect to the right of public access to documents and to
lay down the general principles and limits on such access
in accordance with Article 255(2).

the European Parliament and of

(4) In a joint declaration relating to Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 of
the
Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
Commission
European
documents,
the Council and
the Commission called on the institutions and bodies of
the European Union to adopt internal rules on public
access to documents which take account of the principles
and limits laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Parliament,
the European Parliament,

Council

and

the Bank

(6) Article 255 of the Treaty, pursuant to which Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 was adopted, applies solely to the
European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.
the
However,
requirements of
to
Community institutions and bodies including the Bank,
documents be publicly available to the maximum extent
possible. In 1997, the Bank had already adopted rules on
to its documents (1), which shall be
public
superseded by these instructions.

that, under
good administration applicable

also wishes

access

(7) The Bank has decided to revise its rules on public access
to documents to take account of the principles and limits
laid down in the aforementioned Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, to the extent that this shall not undermine
the full performance of its task as a financial institution as
laid down in the Treaty.

(8) With a view to regulating relations between the staff of
the Bank and the public within a general framework, the
Bank has adopted the ‘Code of good administrative
behaviour for the staff of the European Investment Bank
in its relations with the public’ (2) (hereinafter the Code of
good administrative behaviour).

secrecy,

in particular

the Treaty prohibits the disclosure of
(9) Article 287 of
the kind covered by the obligation of
information of
information about
professional
their
cost
undertakings,
relations or
their business
components. Consequently, the Bank must,
in order to
be able to carry out its task, ensure that the promoters
of projects, actual and potential borrowers, as well as
other parties
implementation or
financing of a project can rely on the confidentiality of
the banking relationship.

involved

in the

(5) Under Article 267 of the Treaty, the European Investment
Bank (hereinafter the Bank) has the task ‘to contribute, by
having recourse to the capital market and utilising its own
resources, to the balanced and steady development of the
common market in the interest of the Community. For
this purpose, the Bank shall, operating on a non-profit-

(10) It has to respect,

and bodies both within and outside

in its relationships with other insti-
tutions
the
Community framework, the confidentiality of documents
exchanged between itself and the latter, to the extent
necessary for attainment of the objectives pursued.

(1) OJ C 243, 9.8.1997.
(2) OJ C 17, 19.1.2001.

27.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 292/11

(11) Within the Bank, it is necessary to ensure free and unen-
cumbered exchange of views in its internal processes of
preparation, deliberation and decision-making in order to
allow the smooth operation thereof; the Bank must also
ensure the protection of personal data in accordance with
Community rules.

(12) In the foregoing context,

the Bank is committed to
applying an active information policy and will continue
and strengthen its efforts to provide the public with
information on its
and
practices; it will also, where and to the extent appropriate,
continue to release basic information on concluded indi-
vidual operations,
in agreement with its co-contracting
parties,

strategy, policies,

activities

The Management Committee of
following rules for the attention of
shall be published:

the Bank has adopted the
these
its departments;

Article 1

Scope

1. Members of
to the
documents of the Bank in accordance with the principles, on
the conditions and within the limits laid down in this decision.

the public

shall have

access

2.
‘Member of the public’ shall mean any citizen of the
Union or any natural or legal person residing or having its
statutory registered office in a Member State of the European
Union or in a State in which the Bank conducts its activities.

3.
‘Document’ shall mean any content drawn up or received
by the Bank concerning a matter relating to policies, activities
or decisions falling within its sphere of responsibility.

4.
‘Third party’ shall mean any natural or legal person or
any entity outside the Bank, including the Member States, other
Community or non-Community institutions and bodies and
third countries.

Article 2

Applications

Applications for access shall be made in any written

1.
form, including electronic form. They shall be addressed to:

General Secretariat
Information and Communications Department
European Investment Bank
L-2950 Luxembourg,

or to:

infopol@eib.org, or

infopol@bei.org

2.
Applications for access shall be processed in accordance
with the conditions and deadlines laid down in the Code of
good administrative behaviour (2).

The applicant shall not be obliged to state reasons for the
3.
application. If any application is not sufficiently precise or if it
does not enable the document or information sought to be
identified,
to clarify the
application.

the Bank shall ask the applicant

4.
The Bank shall nevertheless retain the possibility of
refusing to follow up any application of an excessive or
patently disproportionate nature.

Article 3

Third-party documents

Where the Bank is approached with an application in respect
of a document in its possession received from a third party, it
shall consult the third party concerned for agreement, save
where it results clearly from examination of the document in
the light of this decision that it must or must not be disclosed.

Article 4

Exceptions

Access to all or part of a document shall be refused

1.
where its disclosure would undermine the protection of:

(i) the public interest as regards international relations or the
the
its institutions and bodies or a Member

economic

policy

or

of

financial, monetary
Community,
State;

(ii) privacy and the integrity of the individual, in particular in
accordance with Community legislation regarding the
protection of personal data;

(iii) court proceedings;

(iv) legal advice;

(v) the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits;

(vi) commercial

interests of a natural or

legal person,

including intellectual property;

(vii) the obligation of professional

such
disclosure were to be contrary to professional ethics,
rules and practices applicable
in the banking and
financial sector;

secrecy where

(viii) the legitimate interest of

internal management, notably with respect
resources.

the Bank in organising its
to human

Access to all or part of a document drawn up by the
2.
Bank for internal use or received by it, which relates to a
matter where the decision has not been taken by it, shall be
refused if disclosure of the document would undermine the
to a document
Bank's decision-making process. Access
containing opinions for internal use as part of deliberations
and preliminary consultations within the Bank shall be
refused even after the decision has been taken if disclosure of
the document would undermine the Bank's decision-making
process.

C 292/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

27.11.2002

Any document or part of a document containing
3.
information about third parties shall not be disclosed, where
the information has been identified to the Bank as being confi-
dential, or is covered by an undertaking of confidentiality made
by the Bank, or where the information is otherwise of such a
nature that it is subject to the Bank's duty of confidentiality
toward third parties.

4.
An exception to the rules laid down in the preceding
paragraph shall be possible with the written authorisation of
the person or entity protected by the confidentiality of the
information in question.

5.
The exceptions as laid down in the preceding paragraphs
shall only apply for the period during which protection is
justified on the basis of the content of the document. The
exceptions may generally apply for a maximum period of 30
In the case of documents covered by the exceptions
years.
internal
privacy,
to
relating
or
management powers,
if necessary,
continue to apply after this period.

interests
exceptions may,

commercial
the

Article 5

Access following an application

1.
The applicant shall have access to documents either by
consulting them on the spot or by receiving a copy, in elec-
tronic form where available.

Documents shall be supplied in an existing version and

2.
format.

If a document has already been released, either by the
3.
Bank or by a third party, the Bank shall reply to the application
for access by informing the applicant how to obtain the
requested document.

Article 6

Reproduction

This decision shall be without prejudice to any existing rules
on copyright, including that of the Bank, which may limit a
third party's right to reproduce or exploit released documents.

Article 7

Costs

An applicant may be charged a fee to cover the costs arising
from the making available of documents requested.

Article 8

Recourse

Failing a reply within the deadline prescribed in Article 13 of
the Code of good administrative behaviour or in the event of a
total or partial refusal following a complaint, the applicant
the European Ombudsman in
to contact
shall be
accordance with Article 195 of the Treaty.

free

Article 9

Final provisions

These rules shall annul and replace the decision adopted by the
Management Committee on 26 March 1997 (1). They shall be
supplemented by the provisions of the Code of good adminis-
trative behaviour. The Secretary General of the Bank may, in
consultation with the departments concerned, set in place the
arrangements for applying these rules.