Committee of the Regions Decision No 64/2003 of 11 February 2003 on public access to Committee of the Regions documents
Date: 2003-02-11
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: European Committee of the Regions, access to EU information

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COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS DECISION No 64/2003

of 11 February 2003

on public access to Committee of the Regions documents

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS BUREAU,

Having regard to Article 255(2) and (3) of the EC Treaty, and
in particular Article 255(2) and (3) thereof,

Having regard to Regulation (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),

Having regard to the Committee of the Regions Rules of Proce-
dure, in particular Rule 35 thereof,

Whereas in the Joint Declaration on Regulation (EC) No 1049/
2001, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commis-
sion request
internal rules
the other institutions to adopt
regarding public access to documents, taking into account the
principles and limits set out in this Regulation (2),

HEREBY DECIDES:

Article 1

Scope

Any citizens of the Union and any natural or legal person
residing or having its registered office in a Member State shall
have a right of access to Committee of the Regions documents,
subject to the principles, conditions and limits set out in Regu-
lation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the specific provisions laid
down in this decision.

Article 2

Public register of Committee of the Regions documents

1.
In accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, a register of documents shall be established within
the Committee of the Regions.

2.
The register thus created shall contain references to docu-
ments drawn up or received by the institution as from the date
from which Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is applicable.

3.
The full texts of documents shall be published on the
Committee's Internet site, subject to Regulation (EC) No 45/
2001 of 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 Community institutions and
bodies and on the free movement of such data (3), and Article
16 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Article 3

Registration of documents

1.
Any document drawn up by the Committee shall be
entered in the register as soon as possible. The Secretary-
General
implementing
measures to ensure that all documents drawn up by the
Committee are recorded.

the necessary internal

shall adopt

2.
Documents drawn up under the consultative procedure
or for the purpose of other Committee business shall be
entered in the register as soon as they have been tabled or
made public, under the responsibility of the body or service
which is the originator of the document.

Other documents which fall within the remit of
the Secretariat-General of

the
3.
administrative
the
Committee shall, as far as possible, be entered in the register as
soon as authorised by the originating service.

services of

Any document received by the Committee from a third
4.
party within the meaning of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 shall be forwarded by the official mail service to
the register, which shall enter it, unless it is a sensitive docu-
ment, within the meaning of Article 9 of the above Regulation,
for which compliance with the time limits prescribed in that
article is required.

Article 4

Documents directly accessible

All documents drawn up or received by the Committee
1.
under the consultative procedure must be accessible to citizens
in electronic form, as far as possible, subject to the limits laid
down in Articles 4 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(2) OJ L 173, 27.6.2001, p. 5.

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

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In this connection, the Committee will make all consulta-
2.
tive documents accessible through the register, to enable citi-
zens to have direct access to the full texts of documents.

acknowledge receipt of the application, draft a reply
and deliver the document within the prescribed time
limit.

3.
The Committee will make this register electronically
accessible on its Internet site and will provide on-line assistance
to citizens concerning arrangements for submitting applications
for access to documents.

Other documents, in particular more political or strategic

4.
documents, shall be made directly accessible as far as possible.

Article 5

Documents accessible on request

1.
Documents drawn up or received by the Committee
outside the consultative procedure shall, as far as possible, be
directly accessible to citizens through the register, subject to
the limits laid down in Articles 4 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001.

2. Where entry of a document in the register does not
permit direct access to the full text, either because the docu-
ment is not available in electronic form or because the excep-
tions provided for in Articles 4 and 9 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 are applicable, the applicant may apply for access
to the document in writing, or using the electronic form avail-
able on the website. The Committee may either grant access to
the document or give the reasons for its total or partial refusal
in writing.

Article 6

Initial application

(a)

Su bmi ssi o n of t h e i n i t i a l a p p li ca t i on

1. Applications for access to a document shall be sent in
writing (by post, fax or electronic mail) to the Secre-
tary-General of the Committee or to the open address
given on the Committee's website,
the
languages listed in Article 314 of the EC Treaty.

in one of

2. Applications shall be made in a sufficiently precise
manner
contain information
enabling the document or documents requested to be
identified and the name and address of the applicant.

and in particular

3. If an application is not

sufficiently precise,

the
Committee shall ask the applicant to clarify it and
shall assist him or her in doing so; in this case, the
deadline for reply shall apply from the date by which
the Committee receives this information.

4. The applicant is not obliged to state the reasons for

the application.

(b)

Pr o c e ssi n g of t h e i n i t i a l a p p l i c a t i on

2. When the application relates to a document drawn
up by the Committee to which one of the exceptions
laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/
2001 is applicable, the service responsible for the
register shall contact the service or body that is the
originator of the document, which shall suggest the
course of action to be taken within five working
days.

3. When the doubt as to disclosure concerns documents
from third parties, the Committee shall consult the
latter giving them five working days in which to
make their position known with a view to assessing
whether one of the exceptions laid down in Article 4
and 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is applic-
able.

4. When the application for access submitted to the
Committee concerns a document which has not yet
been made public by the originating institution, the
Committee shall give the institution responsible for
the document five working days in which to express
any reservations regarding disclosure of the docu-
ment.

5. If no reply is received within five working days, the

Committee shall carry on with the procedure.

(c) De a dli ne for r e p ly

1. Within a time limit of 15 working days from the
registration of the application, the service responsible
for the register shall grant access to the requested
document and shall supply it within the same time
limit.

2. Where the Committee is unable to grant access to the
requested document, it shall notify the applicant in
writing of the grounds for its total or partial refusal
and inform the applicant of his or her right to make
a confirmatory application.

3. In this case the applicant will have 15 working days
from receiving the reply to make a confirmatory
application.

4. In exceptional cases, where an application relates to a
very long document or a large number of documents,
the time limit provided for in paragraph 1 of this
article may be extended by 15 working days,
provided the applicant is notified in advance and that
detailed reasons are given.

5. Failure by the Committee to reply within the
prescribed time limit shall entitle the applicant to
make a confirmatory application.

1. An application for access to a document held by the
Committee shall be sent on the same day as it is
registered by the official mail service to the service
responsible for managing the register, which must

6. The time limit of 15 working days laid down by
Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall start
to run from the date of registration of the initial
application.

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(d) Comp e te nt a u th or i ty

Article 8

1. Initial applications shall be handled by the head of
the Service responsible for supervision of the hand-
ling of applications for access to documents.

2. Favourable replies to initial applications shall be sent
to the applicant by the director of the Service respon-
sible for supervision of the handling of applications
for access to documents.

3. Refusal of an initial application, with a statement of
the reasons, shall be decided by the Secretary-General
on a proposal from the service or body that is the
originator of the document.

4. The Secretary-General may, at any time, refer an
application to the Legal Service and/or the officer
responsible for data protection.

Remedies to the confirmatory application

1. Where the Committee totally or partially refuses to grant
access to a document, it shall inform the applicant of the reme-
dies open to him or her, namely: instituting court proceedings
against
to the
the institution and/or making a complaint
Ombudsman under the conditions laid down in Articles 230
and 195 of the EC Treaty.

2.
Failure to reply within the prescribed time limit is to be
regarded as a negative response and will entitle the applicant to
bring an action or complaint under the conditions set out in
the previous paragraph.

Article 9

Issue of documents and cost of the reply

Article 7

Confirmatory applications

(a)

Issu e

(a)

Su bmi ssi on of c onfi r mator y ap pli c ati ons

shall be

1. Confirmatory applications

to the
Committee in writing within 15 working days, either
from receipt of the total or partial refusal of access to
the document requested, or in the absence of any
reply to the initial application.

sent

1. Documents are to be supplied in the form of a copy,
or in electronic format, with full regard to the appli-
cant's preference.

2. If a document has already been released by the
Committee or by another institution and is easily
accessible, the Committee may facilitate access to the
document by informing the applicant how to obtain
the requested document.

2. Confirmatory applications must be made in accor-
dance with the same formal requirements as for the
initial application.

(b) Cost of th e r e p ly

(b)

Pr oce ssi ng a nd de a dli ne for r e p ly

1. Confirmatory applications

shall be processed in
accordance with the provisions laid down in Article
6(b) of this decision.

2. Within 15 working days of registration of the appli-
cation, the Committee shall either grant access to the
document or notify the applicant in writing of the
reasons for its total or partial refusal.

3. In exceptional cases, where an application relates to a
very long document or a large number of documents,
the time limit provided for in the previous paragraph
may be extended by 15 working days, provided the
applicant
is notified in advance and that detailed
reasons are given.

(c) Comp e te nt a u th or i ty

1. The reply to any confirmatory application shall be a

matter for the President of the Committee.

2. The President will refer

the matter to the Legal
Service and/or the officer responsible for data protec-
tion, who shall give an opinion within three working
days.

1. The cost of producing and sending copies may be
charged to the applicant. This charge may not exceed
the real cost of the operation.

2. Consultation on the spot, copies of less than 20 A4
pages and direct access in electronic form or through
the register shall be free of charge.

(c) A p p l i c a ti on s f or ve r y la r g e doc u me nts

1. The issuing of documents exceeding 20 A4 pages
shall be subject to a fee of EUR 10, plus EUR 0,03
per page.

2. The amount of this fee may be revised by a decision

of the Secretary-General.

3. Expenses relating to other means of

transmission
shall be decided by the Secretary-General but may
not exceed the real cost of the operation.

4. In the event of repeated or successive applications
concerning very long documents or a large number
of documents, the Committee may confer with the
applicant informally with a view to finding a solu-
tion.

5. Published documents are not covered by this decision
and shall continue to be subject to their own pricing
system.

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(d) A ddi ti onal tr anslat i on c osts

Where translation into a language other than those avail-
able is requested by the applicant, the existing freelance
rates applied by the Committee to external translations
shall apply.

Article 10

Final provision

Article 11

Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on the date of its publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Union. The decision
on establishing the register of documents shall take effect from
1 June 2003.

The decision shall be enforced by the Secretary-General.

Done at Brussels, 11 February 2003.

This Decision repeals the Committee of the Regions Bureau
Decision No 165/1997 of 17 September 1997 on public access
to Committee of the Regions documents.

For the Bureau of the Committee of the Regions

The President

Albert BORE