2004/508/EC:Decision of the Administrative Board of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work of 4 March 2004 on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to documents of the European Parliament, of the Council and of the Commission
Date: 2004-03-04
Institutions: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
Subjects: Council of the European Union, European Commission, European Parliament, access to information, document, provision of documents

11.6.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 210/1

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH AT
WORK

DECISION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD OF THE EUROPEAN AGENCY FOR SAFETY
AND HEALTH AT WORK

of 4 March 2004

on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the
Council regarding public access to documents of the European Parliament, of the Council and of
the Commission

(2004/508/EC)

THE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1654/2003
amending Regulation (EC) No 2062/94 on the creation of a
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (1),

Whereas the Treaty on European Union enshrines the principle
of transparency in the second paragraph of Article 1, according
to which the Treaty marks a new stage in the process of
creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in
which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely
as possible to the citizen;

Whereas transparency is a guarantee of greater legitimacy, effi-
ciency and responsibility of the administration with respect to
its citizens in a democratic system and whereas transparency
contributes towards reinforcement of the principles of democ-
racy and respect for fundamental rights as defined in Article 6
of the Treaty on European Union and in the Charter of Funda-
mental Rights of the European Union;

Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 1654/2003 of 18 June
2003 contains provisions which guarantee public access to
Agency's files by opening them to public inspection and
allowing access to the Register;

Whereas it is therefore necessary to establish rules for imple-
menting Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 (2) of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents for all documents which are not covered by the
abovementioned provisions;

Whereas decisions concerning action to be taken on initial
applications are taken by members of staff of the Agency
responsible for examining access applications and whereas deci-
sions refusing access resulting from confirmatory applications
are taken by the Director of the Agency;

(1) OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p. 38.
(2) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

Whereas Regulation (EC) No 1654/2003 states also that the
Administrative Board shall adopt practical arrangements for
implementing Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 within six
months of entry into force of Council Regulation (EC) No
1654/2003;

Whereas clear rules assist smooth administration by helping
those responsible to deal accurately and rapidly with applica-
tions made by the public,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

Beneficiaries

1.
The right of access concerns documents held by the
Agency, that is to say, documents drawn up or received by it
and in its possession.

Citizens of

the Union and natural or

2.
legal persons
residing or having their registered agency in a Member State
shall exercise their right of access to documents of the Euro-
pean Agency for Safety and Health at Work (hereinafter the
Agency) pursuant
to Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents (hereinafter Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001) in accordance with these detailed rules.

Pursuant

third countries not

to Article 2(2) of Regulation (EC) No
3.
1049/2001, citizens of
residing in a
Member State and legal persons not having their registered
Agency in one of the Member States shall enjoy the right of
access to Agency documents on the same terms as the benefici-
aries
referred to in Article 2(1) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001.

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Article 2

Applications for access

sent

to the Agency by electronic mail

1.
Applications for access to Agency documents which are
not publicly available shall be made in written form, and shall
be
(docreques-
t@osha.eu.int), by post (European Agency for Safety and Health
at Work, Documentation, Gran Via, 33, E-48009 Bilbao) or by
fax ((34) 944 79 43 83). The Agency shall answer initial and
confirmatory access applications within 15 working days from
In the case of
the date of registration of
complex or bulky applications, the deadline may be extended
by 15 working days. Reasons must be given for any extension
of the deadline and it must be notified to the applicant before-
hand.

the application.

2.
If an application is imprecise, as referred to in Article 6(2)
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the Agency shall invite the
applicant to provide additional information making it possible
to identify the documents requested; the deadline for reply shall
run only from the time when the Agency has this information.

3.
Any decision which is even partly negative shall state the
reason for the refusal based on one of the exceptions listed in
Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and shall inform
the applicant of the remedies available to him/her.

Article 3

Treatment of initial applications

1. Without prejudice to Article 8 of this Decision, as soon
as the application is registered, an acknowledgement of receipt
shall be sent to the applicant, unless the answer can be sent by
return post.

The acknowledgement of receipt and the answer shall be sent
in writing, where appropriate, by electronic means.

2.
The decision shall be notified to the applicant in writing,
where appropriate by electronic means, and shall inform him/
her of his/her right to bring an action before the Court of First
complaint with the European
Instance or
Ombudsman.

to lodge

a

Article 5

Consultations

1. Where the Agency receives an application for access to a
document which it holds but which originates from a third
party, the Agency shall check whether one of the exceptions
provided for under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
applies.

If, after that examination,

2.
the Agency considers that
the exceptions
access to it must be refused under one of
provided for by Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
the negative answer shall be sent to the applicant without
consultation of the third-party author.

The Agency shall grant the application without consulting

3.
the third-party author where:

(a) the document requested has already been disclosed either
by its author or under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 or
similar provisions;

(b) it is obvious that the disclosure, or partial disclosure, of its
contents would not affect one of the interests referred to in
Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

In all other cases,

4.
shall be
consulted. In particular, if an application for access concerns a
document originating from a Member State, the Agency shall
consult the originating authority where:

the third-party author

The applicant shall be informed of the response to his/her

2.
application by the Head of Unit concerned.

(a) the document was forwarded to the Agency before the date

from which Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies;

3.
Any answer which is even partly negative shall inform
the applicant of his/her right to submit, within 15 working
days from receipt of the answer, a confirmatory application to
the Agency to reconsider its position.

4.
Failure by the Agency to reply within the prescribed time
limit shall entitle the applicant to make a confirmatory applica-
tion.

Article 4

Treatment of confirmatory applications

The Director of

the Agency shall

take the decisions
1.
refusing access relating to confirmatory applications. He/she
shall inform the Administrative Board of the Agency of such
actions.

(b) the Member State has requested the Agency not to disclose
the document without its prior agreement, in accordance
with Article 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

5.
The third party consulted shall have a deadline for reply
which shall be no shorter than five working days but must
allow the Agency to abide by its own deadlines for reply. In the
absence of an answer within the prescribed period, or if the
third party is untraceable or not identifiable, the Agency shall
decide in accordance with the rules on exceptions in Article 4
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, taking into account the
legitimate interests of the third party on the basis of the infor-
mation at its disposal.

If

6.
the Agency intends to give access to a document
against the explicit opinion of the author, it shall inform the
author of its intention to disclose the document after a ten-
working day period and shall draw his/her attention to the
remedies available to him/her to oppose disclosure.

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Article 6

Exercise of the right of access

Documents shall be sent by mail, fax or, if available, by e-
1.
mail. If documents are voluminous or difficult to handle, the
applicant may be invited to consult the documents on the spot.
This consultation shall be free.

If the document has been published, the answer shall
2.
consist of the publication references and/or the place where the
document is available and where appropriate of its web address
on the Agency's website www.agency.osha.eu.int.

If the volume of the documents requested exceeds twenty
3.
pages, the applicant may be charged a fee of EUR 0,10 per
page plus carriage costs. The charges for other media shall be
decided on a case-by-case basis but shall not exceed a reason-
able amount.

Article 7

Measures facilitating access to the documents

In order to make citizens' rights deriving from Regulation
1.
(EC) No 1049/2001 effective, the Agency shall provide access
to a register of documents. The register shall be accessible in
electronic form.

The register shall contain the title of the document (in the
2.
languages in which it is available) and other useful references
to identify the document.

A help page (in all official

3.
inform the
public how the document can be obtained. If the document is
published, there shall be a link to the original text.

languages) shall

2.
The following documents shall be automatically provided
on request and, as far as possible, made directly accessible by
electronic means:

(a) documents originating from third parties which have
already been disclosed by their author or with his/her
consent;

(b) documents already disclosed following a previous applica-

tion.

Article 9

Reports

The Agency shall publish annually as part of the annual report,
information concerning the implementation of this decision, in
particular statistics on the number of requests for access to
documents of the Agency,
the number of refusals and the
reasons for such refusals in accordance with Article 17(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Article 10

Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption
and shall be published in the Official Journal of the European
Union.

Article 8

Done at Bilbao, 4 March 2004.

Documents directly accessible to the public

This Article applies only to documents drawn up or
the date from which Regulation (EC) No

1.
received after
1049/2001 applies.

For the Administrative Board

Chairperson

Christa SCHWENG