Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 amending Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community
Date: 2003-09-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EAEC, access to EU information, archives

27.9.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 243/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC, EURATOM) No 1700/2003

of 22 September 2003

amending Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 concerning the opening to the public of the
historical archives of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy
Community

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 308 thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, and in particular Article 203 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

tion (EC) No 1049/2001, it is necessary to bring these
exceptions into line with the exceptions to right of
access provided for in that Regulation.

(5)

For the purposes of Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/
83, the European Economic and Social Committee, the
Committee of
the Regions and similar agencies and
bodies set up by the Community legislature should
henceforth be treated in the same way as the institutions
referred to in Article 7(1) of the Treaty establishing the
European Community.

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

(6)

Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 should therefore
be amended accordingly,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

the Treaty establishing the European
Article 255 of
Community gives any citizen of the Union and any
natural or legal person residing or having its registered
office in a Member State a right of access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

The general principles and the limits governing the
public's right of access to documents of the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission were laid
down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council (1).

The exceptions to public right of access provided for in
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 are applicable for a
maximum period of 30 years, irrespective of the place
where the documents are stored. The exceptions relating
to protection of privacy or commercial interests and the
documents may,
provisions on sensitive
specific
however, apply beyond that period if necessary.

Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 (2)
provides that the public will not be given access to
certain categories of documents 30 years after the docu-
ments were created. Pursuant to Article 18(2) of Regula-

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(2) OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1.

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 is hereby amended as
follows:

1. Article 1(1), (2) and (3) shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 1

1.
This Regulation seeks to ensure that documents of
historical or administrative value are preserved and made
available to the public wherever possible.

and Social Committee,

To that end, each institution of the European Community
and of the European Atomic Energy Community, as well as
the
the European Economic
Committee of Regions, agencies and similar bodies set up
by the legislator (hereinafter referred to as the institutions)
shall establish its historical archives and open them to the
public on the terms provided for by this Regulation after
the expiry of a period of 30 years starting from the date of
the creation of the document.

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2.

For the purposes of this Regulation:

(a) “archives of the institutions of the European Commu-
nities”, means all those documents of whatever type and
in whatever medium which have originated in or been
received by one of the institutions or by their represen-
tatives or servants in the performance of their duties,
which relate to the activities of the European Commu-
nity and/or the European Atomic Energy Community
(hereinafter referred to as the European Communities);

(b) “historical archives of the institutions of the European
Communities”, consist of that part of the archives of the
institutions of the European Communities which has
been selected, on the terms laid down in Article 7, for
permanent preservation.

3.
All documents available to the public before expiry of
the period provided for in paragraph 1 shall remain avail-
able without restriction.’;

tions of the person concerned, the institution considers that
their disclosure would undermine such commercial interests,
unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.

Sensitive documents within the meaning of Article 9
4.
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall be accessible within
the limits laid down in that Article.

(*) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(**) OJ L 8, 12.1.2002, p. 1.’;

3. Article 3 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 3

The public shall not have access to documents that have
been classified in accordance with Article 10 of Council
Regulation No 3 of 31 July 1958 implementing Article 24
of
the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy
Community (*), and have not been declassified.

(*) OJ No 17, 6.10.1958, p. 406/58.’;

2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following:

4. Article 4 shall be deleted;

‘Article 2

1.
In the case of documents covered by the exception
relating to privacy and the integrity of the individual, as
defined in Article 4(1)(b) of 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 (*) and that relating to
legal person,
the commercial
including intellectual property, as defined in the first indent
of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001, the exceptions
may continue to apply to all or part of a document after the
30-year period if the relevant conditions for their applica-
tion are satisfied.

interests of a natural or

2.
Documents covered by the exception relating to
privacy and the integrity of the individual, as defined in
Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, including
files of staff of the European Communities, may be disclosed
in accordance with 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 the Community institutions
and bodies and on the free movement of such data (**), and
in particular Articles 4 and 5 thereof.

3.
Before deciding to make available to the public docu-
ments which, if disclosed, could undermine the commercial
interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual
property, as defined in the first indent of Article 4(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the institution shall inform
the person concerned, in accordance with the rules to be
defined by each institution, of its intention to make the
documents in question accessible to the public. The docu-
ments shall not be released if, taking account of the observa-

5. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 5

For the sake of compliance with the 30-year rule provided
for in Article 1(1), each institution shall in good time, and
not later than the 25th year following the date of the crea-
tion of a document, examine all documents classified in
accordance with the rules of the institution concerned in
order to decide whether or not to declassify them. Docu-
ments not declassified at the first such examination shall be
re-examined periodically and at least every five years.’;

6. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

Where, after the expiry of the 30-year period provided for
in Article 1(1), a Member State intends to release to the
public documents originating from the institutions and
covered by Article 2 or Article 3, it shall consult the institu-
tion concerned in order to take a decision that does not
jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of this Regula-
tion.’;

7. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 7

Each institution shall transfer to its historical archives all
documents contained in their current archives no later than
15 years after their date of creation. According to the
criteria laid down by each institution pursuant to Article 9,
there shall be an initial sorting process with the purpose of
separating documents that are to be preserved from those
that have no administrative or historical value.’;

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8. Article 9 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 9

Each institution shall publish information annually on

2.
its historical archiving activities.’;

1.
Each institution may adopt internal rules for the appli-
cation of this Regulation. Wherever possible, the institutions
shall make their archives available to the public by elec-
tronic means. They shall also conserve documents which are
available in forms meeting special needs (Braille, large text
or recordings).

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter
into force on the 20th day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 22 September 2003.

For the Council

The President

F. FRATTINI

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ANNEX

COUNCIL STATEMENT

The Council recalls that this Regulation does not affect the deposit contract between the European
Communities and the European University Institute of 17 December 1984.