Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 5 May 2025 laying down the Rules on conditionality and on the declaration and publication of meetings of Parliament’s managers with interest representatives and with representatives of public authorities of third countries
Date: 2025-05-05
Institutions: Bureau of the European Parliament
Subjects: European Parliament, administrative transparency, executive, interest group, summit meeting, third country, transparency in decision-making




C_202503328EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/3328


1.7.2025







            DECISION OF THE BUREAU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
         
of 5 May 2025
         
laying down the Rules on conditionality and on the declaration and publication of meetings of Parliament’s managers with interest representatives and with representatives of public authorities of third countries
(C/2025/3328)


THE BUREAU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,







—


having regard to Article 25(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament,










—


having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register (1),










—


after consulting the Legal Service of the European Parliament, the Staff Committee of the European Parliament, the Committee for Equality of Opportunity between men and women and Diversity of the European Parliament, and the Data Protection Officer of the European Parliament,





Whereas:







(1)


Article 11(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) requires Union institutions, by appropriate means, to give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known, and publicly exchange, their views in all areas of Union action. Moreover, Article 11(2) TEU requires Union institutions to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.












(2)


Article 15(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides that, in order to promote good governance and ensure the participation of civil society, Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies are to conduct their work as openly as possible.












(3)


Title II of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the Union, laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 (2) lays down rights and obligations of officials, explicitly outlining their conduct and duties.












(4)


Parliament is committed to ensuring its integrity, independence and accountability, which are essential for maintaining the trust of Union citizens in the legitimacy of the political, legislative and administrative processes of the Union. That commitment should be translated into specific requirements as regards the meetings of Parliament’s managers in active employment in its General Secretariat.












(5)


The signatory institutions of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on a mandatory transparency register (‘the IIA on a mandatory transparency register’), committed themselves to ‘conditionality’, the principle whereby registration in the transparency register is a precondition for interest representatives to be able to carry out certain covered activities. The signatory institutions implement that principle by means of individual decisions on the basis of their powers of internal organisation.












(6)


The principle of conditionality should apply to scheduled meetings relating to parliamentary business organised between interest representatives and managers in Parliament’s administration.












(7)


Scheduled meetings of managers with interest representatives and with representatives of public authorities of third countries relating to parliamentary business should be declared and published as a means of ensuring an open, efficient and independent Parliament administration.












(8)


Certain activities and bodies listed in Article 4 of the IIA on a mandatory transparency register fall outside the scope of that IIA and should therefore not be covered by the definition of ‘interest representative’ in this Decision.












(9)


Citizens of the Union visiting Parliament’s premises, petitioners, and journalists participating in press conferences or other information activities organised for their benefit should not be considered to be ‘interest representatives’ as defined in this Decision. Likewise, general information sessions and communication activities by Parliament’s services that aim to reach out to audiences consisting of multipliers should not be considered to be scheduled meetings with interest representatives for the purposes of this Decision.












(10)


In light of Parliament’s commitment to ensuring its integrity, independence and accountability and in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3), in particular Article 5(1)(a) thereof, it should be possible to publish the names of managers who have declared a scheduled meeting under this Decision,





HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:



Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Decision:






(a)


‘manager’ means the Secretary-General, a Director-General, a Director, a Head of Unit, a Head of Liaison Office or a Team Leader, including in an acting capacity;










(b)


‘interest representative’ means any natural or legal person, or formal or informal group, association or network, that falls within the scope of the IIA on a mandatory transparency register, as it engages with covered activities pursuant to Article 3 of the IIA on a mandatory transparency register, subject to the exemptions for activities and bodies not covered pursuant to Article 4 of the IIA on a mandatory transparency register;










(c)


‘representatives of public authorities of third countries’ means all representatives, at national or subnational level, of third countries, their diplomatic missions, embassies, consulates, trade envoys, commercial entities and other representations;










(d)


‘scheduled meeting’ means a planned meeting with interest representatives or with representatives of public authorities of third countries, in person or remotely, that has been arranged in advance, excluding inter alia spontaneous or social encounters and participation in public debates, and excluding meetings taking place in the context of an administrative procedure established by the TEU, the TFEU or legal acts of the Union that falls under the responsibility of the manager, or meetings which form part of the programme of an official Parliament body;










(e)


‘conditionality’ means the principle whereby registration in the transparency register is a precondition for interest representatives to be able to carry out certain covered activities.






Article 2

Conditionality


1.   Scheduled meetings organised between interest representatives and managers in relation to parliamentary business shall be conditional upon prior registration of interest representatives in the transparency register.


2.   By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the Secretary-General, or the President in the case of scheduled meetings of the Secretary-General, may decide that a scheduled meeting with an interest representative may take place without registration in the transparency register where registration would endanger the life, physical integrity or liberty of an individual or where there are other compelling reasons not to register it.



Article 3

Declaration and publication of meetings


1.   A manager shall declare all scheduled meetings relating to parliamentary business with interest representatives and representatives of public authorities of third countries in which he or she participates.


2.   The declarations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made by managers no later than thirty calendar days after the scheduled meeting took place. They shall be made using a dedicated e-form provided by Parliament. That e-form shall contain the following information:






(a)


the name and function of the manager;










(b)


the name of the organisation or the function or interests of the individual(s) met, without identifying the latter by name;










(c)


the date and place of the meeting;










(d)


the parliamentary business (report, opinion, resolution, plenary debate or urgency) to which the meeting is related.






3.   The information referred to in paragraph 2 shall be published by Parliament.


4.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, a scheduled meeting the disclosure of which would endanger the life, physical integrity or liberty of an individual or a scheduled meeting in respect of which there are other compelling reasons for maintaining confidentiality shall be declared in an appropriate way no later than thirty calendar days after it took place to the Secretary-General, or, in the case of a scheduled meeting of the Secretary-General, to the President. The Secretary-General, or, when applicable, the President, shall then decide either to keep that declaration confidential or to have it published in full or in anonymised form, including where appropriate on a delayed basis.



Article 4

Evaluation

The implementation of this Decision shall be evaluated at the latest two years after its entry into force.


Article 5

Political Groups

Political groups may decide to apply this Decision mutatis mutandis, in its entirety. Following a notification to that effect to the Secretary-General, Parliament shall make the necessary technical facilities available.


Article 6

Entry into force and publication


1.   This decision shall enter into force on 1 September 2025.


2.   In accordance with Article 5(3) of the IIA on a mandatory transparency register, this Decision shall be made public on the website of the transparency register.


3.   This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.





(1)  
            OJ L 207, 11.6.2021, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_interinstit/2021/611/oj.

(2)  
            OJ L 56, 4.3.1968, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/1968/259(1)/oj.

(3)  Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/1725/oj).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/3328/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)