2004/605/EC: Decision of the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union of 13 April 2004 on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to documents
Date: 2004-04-13
Institutions: Translation Centre
Subjects: EU publication, Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, access to EU information

20.8.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 272/13

TRANSLATION CENTRE FOR THE BODIES OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION

DECISION OF THE TRANSLATION CENTRE FOR THE BODIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

of 13 April 2004

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

(2004/605/EC)

THE MANAGEMENT BOARD,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 of 28
November 1994 setting up a Translation Centre for bodies of
the European Union (1), as last amended by Council Regulation
(EC) No 1645/2003 (2) of 18 June 2003, in particular Article
18a thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

The second subparagraph of Article 1 of the Treaty on
European Union enshrines the concept of openness,
stating that
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.

that

the administration enjoys
Openness guarantees
greater
legitimacy and is more effective and more
accountable to the citizen in a democratic system and
contributes to strengthening the principles of democracy
and respect
for fundamental rights as laid down in
Article 6 of the EU Treaty and in the Charter of Funda-
mental Rights of the European Union.

Article 18a of Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 provides that
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of
the European
Parliament and of the Council regarding public access
and Commission
to European Parliament, Council
documents (3)
No
(EC)
1049/2001) shall also apply to documents held by the
Centre and it also provides that the Management Board
shall adopt the practical arrangements for implementing
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,

(hereinafter

Regulation

(1) OJ L 314, 7.12.1994, p. 1
(2) OJ L 245, 29.9.2003, p. 13.
(3) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

Article 1

Beneficiaries and scope

the Translation Centre for the bodies of
subject

Any natural or legal person shall have a right of access to
the
to the principles,
laid down in Regulation (EC) No
this

1.
documents of
European Union (the Centre)
conditions and limits
1049/2001 and in accordance with the provisions of
decision.

Documents

in the Centre’s possession for

2.
translation
purposes only are not held by the Centre within the meaning
of Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this decision:

(a) ‘document’ shall mean any content whatever its medium
(written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a
sound, visual or
concerning a
matter
relating to the policies, activities and decisions
falling within the Centre’s sphere of responsibility;

audiovisual

recording)

(b) ‘third party’ shall mean any natural or legal person, or any
entity outside the Centre, including the Member States, other
Community or non-Community institutions and bodies and
third countries.

Article 3

Applications

via

its website

(www.cdt.eu.int), by

1.
All applications for access to a document shall be sent to
e-mail
the Centre
(cdt@cdt.eu.int), by mail (Translation Centre for the Bodies of
the European Union, Bâtiment Nouvel Hémicycle, 1 rue du Fort
Thüngen, L-1499 Luxembourg), or by fax ((352) 421711 220).
The Centre shall reply to initial and confirmatory access appli-
cations within 15 working days from the date of registration of
the application. In the case 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 be
notified to the applicant in advance.

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Official Journal of the European Union

20.8.2004

If an application is not sufficiently precise, as referred to
2.
in Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the Centre
shall ask the applicant to provide further information to help
identify the documents requested; the deadline for reply shall
run only from the date on which the Centre is in receipt of
such information.

The decision shall be notified to the applicant in writing,
2.
where appropriate in electronic form, informing the applicant of
its right to bring an action before the Court of First Instance or
to lodge a complaint with the European Ombudsman.

Any decision which is even partly negative shall state the
3.
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 open to it.

Article 4

Processing of initial applications

1.
Once the application has been registered, an acknowl-
edgement of receipt shall be sent to the applicant, unless a
reply is sent
immediately. The acknowledgement of receipt
and the reply shall be sent in writing, where appropriate in
electronic form.

Subject to the provisions of Article 9 of this decision, the
2.
Administration Department shall have the power to decide on
the action to be taken with regard to initial applications. To that
end, a member of staff shall be assigned to process applications
for access and to coordinate replies.

Article 6

Consultation

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

2.
If, after examination, the Centre considers that access to
the document requested must be refused by reason of one of
the exceptions provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, the negative answer shall be sent to the applicant
without consultation of the third-party author.

3.
Subject to the provisions of paragraph 4 of this Article,
the Centre shall grant the application without consulting the
third-party author where:

(a)

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

The applicant shall be informed of the outcome of its appli-
cation.

(b) the disclosure, or partial disclosure, of its contents would
not obviously undermine one of the interests referred to in
Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Any reply which is even partly negative shall
inform the
applicant of its right to submit, within 15 working days from
receipt of the reply, a confirmatory application to the Centre.

In the event of a total or partial refusal, the applicant may,
3.
within 15 working days of receiving the Centre’s reply, make a
confirmatory application asking the Centre to reconsider its
position.

4.
Failure by the Centre to reply within the prescribed time-
limit shall entitle the applicant to make a confirmatory appli-
cation.

In all other cases, the third-party author shall be consulted.

If an application for access concerns a document origi-
4.
nating from a Member State,
the
originator subject to the provisions of paragraph 3(a) of this
Article.

the Centre shall consult

5.
The third party consulted shall have not less than five
working days in which to reply, or enough time to allow the
Centre to meet its own time limits for replying. If no reply is
received within the prescribed period, or if
the third party
cannot be found or
the Centre shall decide in
accordance with the rules on exceptions stated in Article 4 of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, taking account of the legitimate
interests of the third party on the basis of the information at its
disposal.

identified,

Article 5

Processing of confirmatory applications

1.
The Director of the Centre shall decide on confirmatory
applications. He shall inform the Centre’s Management Board of
his decision.

6.
If the Centre 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 period of 10
working days and shall draw the author’s attention to the
remedies open to it to oppose such disclosure.

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 272/15

Article 7

Exercise of the right of access

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

If the document has been published, the reply shall consist
2.
of references to the publication and/or the place where the
document is available and, where appropriate, the address of
the document on the website www.cdt.eu.int.

If the volume of the documents requested exceeds 20
3.
pages, the applicant may be charged a fee of EUR 0,10 per
page, plus delivery charge. The amount of this fee may be
amended by the Centre’s Director. The charges
for other
media shall be decided individually, but shall not exceed a
reasonable amount.

Article 8

Measures facilitating access to documents

To make citizens’

1.
rights under Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 effective, the Centre shall provide public access to
a register of documents. Access to the register shall be provided
in electronic form.

2.
The register shall contain the title of the document (in the
languages in which it is available), including, where applicable,
other useful references, an indication of its author and the date
of its creation or adoption.

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

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

(a)

texts adopted by the Centre’s Director or Management
Board intended for publication in the Official
Journal of
the European Union or on the Centre’s website;

(b) documents originating from third parties which have
already been disclosed by their author or with its consent;

(c)

documents already disclosed following a previous appli-
cation.

Article 10

Reports

including

information on implementation of

The Centre shall publish annually a report for the preceding
this
year
decision, in particular statistics on the number of applications
for access to the Centre’s documents, the number of cases in
which the Centre refused to grant access and the reasons for
in accordance with Article 17(1) of Regulation
such refusals,
(EC) No 1049/2001.

Article 11

Entry into force

This decision shall enter into force on 1 April 2004.

Article 12

Publication

This decision shall be published in the Official
European Union.

Journal of the

Article 9

Done at Luxembourg, 13 April 2004.

Documents directly accessible to the public

This article applies only to documents drawn up or
1.
received after the date of implementation of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001.

For the Management Board
The Chairman

K.-J. LÖNNROTH