Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 5 May 2025 concerning Rules on access to the European Parliament
Date: 2025-05-05
Institutions: Bureau of the European Parliament
Subjects: European Parliament, public building, seat of institution




C_202502744EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2744


12.5.2025







            DECISION OF THE BUREAU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
         
of 5 May 2025
         
concerning Rules on access to the European Parliament
(C/2025/2744)


THE BUREAU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,

Having regard to the Rules of Procedure and, in particular, to Rules 25 and 126 thereof,


Having regard to national legislation concerning safety and the risk of fire and panic and, in particular, to legislation governing the maximum capacity of buildings and installations,

Whereas:







(1)


The European Parliament is an Institution that is open to citizens and committed to transparency, and it should guarantee an appropriate level of security and safety for all users of its premises. It should therefore be able to adopt the measures required for maintaining order in all of its premises.












(2)


In order to facilitate granting access to Parliament’s premises and control thereof, an access badge should be provided as an identification document to all persons who are granted access to Parliament’s premises. It should incorporate a set of access rights linked to the category of users to which the holder belongs, and it is strictly personal and non-transferable.












(3)


Enhanced clarity about the capacity in which a person is given access to Parliament’s premises is needed, since a person might belong to more than one category of users. It is, therefore, important for reasons of legal certainty to ensure that access is given on the basis of a single capacity. It should thus not be possible for a person to hold more than one active access badge at any given time.












(4)


Access for persons with whom Members have a direct professional connection or a personal connection, such as their children, spouse or stable non-marital partner, who require regular access to Parliament’s premises, should be facilitated.












(5)


The President or, by delegation, the Secretary-General, should have the power to refuse access to Parliament’s premises for a specific period of time when such refusal is in the interest of the Parliament, in particular where such refusal is justified in order to ensure Parliament’s internal security and safety or the maintenance of its internal order. In particular, they should have the power to refuse access to Parliament’s premises, for a specific period of time, to visitors who have failed to comply with the applicable rules. The duration of that period should be proportionate to the level of non-compliance with the applicable rules.












(6)


For the purpose of ensuring security and safety or maintaining order within Parliament’s premises, as well as for the purpose of enabling Parliament to hear the person concerned before the adoption of a final decision, a preliminary refusal of access to Parliament’s premises should be possible. The duration of such a preliminary refusal of access should be limited to six weeks and it should be possible for it to be lifted at any time, by means of a decision of the President or, by delegation, the Secretary-General.












(7)


Where a person has been ordered to leave Parliament’s premises, Parliament’s interest in preliminarily refusing that person access to its premises can be considered as overriding. Therefore, in such a situation, a preliminary refusal of access should be directly applicable pursuant to this Decision. In other situations, a decision to impose a preliminary refusal of access should be adopted where this is in Parliament’s interest,





HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:



Article 1

Scope

This Decision shall govern access to the premises of the European Parliament.


Article 2

Access to the premises of the European Parliament


1.   Members shall have a permanent right of access to Parliament’s premises throughout their term of office. They shall have such access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.


2.   Accredited Parliamentary Assistants and Members’ trainees in Parliament’s premises shall have a permanent right of access to Parliament’s premises for the period laid down in their contract.


3.   Members may, on their own responsibility, request permanent access to Parliament’s premises for a maximum of six persons with whom they have a direct professional or a personal connection, who require regular access to Parliament’s premises.


4.   Members may invite a maximum of nine persons per day to visit them on working days and during office opening hours at Parliament’s premises.


5.   The Chairs of the political groups and the Members of the Bureau may invite a maximum of 15 persons per day to visit them on working days and during office opening hours at Parliament’s premises.


6.   The visitors referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 shall be met by the Member that issued the invitation or by that Member’s Accredited Parliamentary Assistant at one of Parliament’s entrances. They shall be permanently accompanied by the Member or by that Member’s Accredited Parliamentary Assistant during the entire time that they spend on Parliament’s premises.


7.   Former Members shall be entitled to have access, on a daily basis, to Parliament’s premises on working days and during office opening hours. Former Members may invite their children, spouse or stable non-marital partner to accompany them.


8.   The Quaestors may lay down implementing rules on access arrangements for Members and former Members.


9.   The Quaestors shall lay down rules on access to Parliament’s premises for interest representatives registered in the Transparency Register and for groups of visitors as defined by the Bureau decision of 16 December 2002 on Rules governing the reception of groups of visitors and the Euroscola, Euromed-Scola and Euronest-Scola Programmes.


10.   The Secretary-General shall lay down rules on access to Parliament’s premises for all types of staff, media representatives and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, and any other visitors.


11.   The Secretary-General shall develop a new entry log for all persons above 18 years old visiting Parliament’s premises, stating the date, time and purpose of visit. That entry log shall not apply to accredited journalists, members and staff of other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies.



Article 3

Access to car parks


1.   Members shall be entitled to use the car parks of Parliament’s premises in accordance with the Bureau Decision of 2 May 2022 on the rules on parking for Members in the European Parliament.


2.   Other categories of users shall be entitled to use the car parks of Parliament’s premises in accordance with the internal rules on parking in the Parliament issued by the Secretary-General.


3.   The Quaestors may lay down implementing rules on access to car parks for Members and former Members.



Article 4

Access badge


1.   An access badge is an identification document that incorporates a certain set of access rights to Parliament’s premises. Those access rights shall be assigned on the basis of the category of user to which the holder belongs.


2.   A person shall be entitled to have only one active access badge for any given period.


3.   The access badge is strictly personal and non-transferable. The holder shall not use it to give access to Parliament’s premises to other persons.


4.   All persons who access Parliament’s premises shall be required to wear their access badges visibly during the entire period they spend on Parliament’s premises.


5.   Holders of access badges shall be liable for any misuse thereof. The access badges shall remain the property of Parliament. Holders shall return the access badge once it no longer fulfils the criteria on the basis of which it was issued. Holders shall also report the loss or theft of access badges to the competent services of Parliament.


6.   The Secretary-General shall lay down implementing measures regarding the design and the technical aspects of access badges. The Secretary-General may delegate that power to the Director-General for Security and Safety.



Article 5

Access to specific areas


1.   The designation of specific areas set aside for Members shall be determined by the Quaestors.


2.   Access to specific areas other than those referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be subject to specific provisions adopted by decision of the Secretary-General.



Article 6

Security and safety


1.   Insofar as this Decision and the Rules governing security and safety in the European Parliament (1) (Bureau Decision of 15 January 2018) do not contain a specific provision, Parliament shall apply on its premises the regulations governing security and safety of the Member State in which they are located, and especially those governing fire safety.


2.   When a specific risk situation occurs, the President shall adjust, on a proposal from the Secretary-General, the alert state level, which may include access restrictions, in accordance with Articles 12 to 14 of the Bureau Decision of 15 January 2018.


3.   The Secretary-General may adopt implementing measures with reference to paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, in accordance with the security and safety policy decided by the Bureau.



Article 7

Exceptional situations


1.   Notwithstanding other applicable rules, the President may grant or refuse access to Parliament’s premises, where this is justified on the basis of the extraordinary circumstances referred to in Rule 244 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, or on the basis of Parliament’s interests. In particular, the President may refuse access to Parliament’s premises where this is justified with a view, inter alia, to ensuring Parliament’s internal security and safety or to maintaining its internal order.
Before adopting a decision pursuant to the first subparagraph, the President may adopt a decision preliminarily refusing access to Parliament’s premises to the person concerned.


2.   Access to Parliament’s premises shall be preliminarily refused to a person who has been ordered to leave Parliament’s premises until either:






(a)


the President adopts a decision refusing access to Parliament’s premises in respect of that person, pursuant to the first subparagraph of paragraph 1;










(b)


the President adopts a decision lifting the preliminary refusal in respect of that person; or










(c)


a period of six weeks has elapsed, starting on the day when that person was ordered to leave Parliament’s premises.






3.   The President may delegate the powers under paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article to the Secretary-General.



Article 8

Failure to comply with this Decision


1.   If a Member fails to comply with this Decision, Rule 183 of the Rules of Procedure may apply.


2.   If a former Member fails to comply with this Decision, Article 7 of the Bureau Decision of 17 April 2023 on former Members shall apply.


3.   If a person other than a Member or former Member fails to comply with this Decision, they may be expelled from Parliament’s premises in application of the Bureau Decision of 15 January 2018 and the Secretary-General may decide to withdraw that person’s access badge.



Article 9

Repeal

This Decision shall repeal and replace the Bureau Decision of 8 May 2023 on Rules on access to the European Parliament.


Article 10

Entry into force

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




(1)  Decision of the Bureau of the European Parliament of 15 January 2018 on Rules governing security and safety in the European Parliament (OJ C 79, 2.3.2018, p. 3).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2744/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)