Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

### `COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES`

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                        C0M(93)258 final

                        Brussels, 2 June 1993

              OPENNESS IN THE COMMUNITY

       Communication to the Council, the Parliament and the
             Economic and Social Committee

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**CONTENTS**

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1. Introduction

2. State ©f play

3. Access to documents

4. Relations with the General Public

5. Final

Annexes :

  Implementation of the open approach and of meaaures. on special
  interest groups (December 1992V

  Access to documents

  Openness and transparency

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                   - 3 
             OPENNESS IN THE COMMUNITY

1. Introduction

In the Treaty on European Union and subsequently in the Birmingham
European Council Declaration, and in the Conclusions of the Edinburgh
European Council, the Heads of State or Government gave clear signals
that the Community must be seen to be close to its citizens.

Conditions must be created in which a more informed public debate on the
Community and its future can flourish. The commission has taken several
initiatives as a contribution to this.

The purpose of this communication is to take stock of the implementation
of the measures concerned. It shows substantial achievement, rapidly
executed, and provides a clear indication of further work already
underway at the Commission.

Another goal is, in conjuction with the work finished in May, to present
more detailed requirements for providing 'access to the institution's
documents in order to enhance further discussion. Therefore this

communication forms the Commission's completed response to a declaration
made at Maastricht containing an invitation for a report on measures
designed to improve public access.

This communication also outlines further Commission measures designed to
improve its relations with the general public as announced in the
Commission's work programme for 1993/94. It equally invites the other
institutions, national, regional and local authorities and nongovernmental organisations to cooperate in achieving these ends.

The Commission sees the development of its information and communication
policy as very much linked to the achievement of openness. The future
shaping of this policy will be dealt with more in detail in a separate
communication which will be adopted shortly.

2. State of Play

The Commission has a commendable history of an open door policy.
Traditionally it has been open to input from citizens. This stems from
the belief that such a process is fundamental for the development of
sound and workable policies. The Commission intends, as indicated in the
Communication on Increased Transparency in the work of the commission
(O.J. C 63, 5.3.1993, p. 8) to extend this policy more widely. For
example by broadening participation in the working process of the
Commission and by making Commission documents more rapidly available. To
this end the Commission has already taken a series of measures. In a
parallel communication the Commission outlined its approach to an Open
and Structured Dialogue with Special Interest Groups.

The measures foreseen in both Communications are at present being put
into practice. Some actions have already been implemented, such as
identification in the legislative programme for 1993 of forthcoming
proposals which should be preceded by broad external consultations and

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the publication of a list of subjects on which green or white papers will
be prepared in 1993. A programme for legislative consolidation of various
Community measures has been announced and, in addition, arrangements have
been made for launching an effective and rapid system, through the
Office of Official Publications of the European Communities, for making
available consolidated texts for practical use. Moreover, several steps
have been taken to ensure that Commission staff are aware of the need for

increased openness. Further details on the substantial progress made
are contained in annex 1.

The December package dealt explicitly with openness. However, the
Commission would like to point out that many other recent initiatives
also contribute directly or indirectly to greater openness. In this
respect the following examples could be mentioned :

- the Commission's follow up to the Sutherland report (SEC (92) 2277)
  which contains a series of activities to improve openness for firms,
  trade associations and consumers on the management of the internal
  market;

  the Commission's proposals to develop the Euro Info centres to
  facilitate access by enterprises to Community information will
  equally increase openness; and

  work on administrative simplification of Community policies in
  favour of enterprises and in the field of agriculture.

The Commission has noted with great interest the efforts in the field of
transparency made by the other institutions and supports these. For
example, it noted with satisfaction that the Council has started to put
the decisions made at Edinburgh on access to its work and on information
on its role and its decisions into practice as quickly as possible. The
Commission is willing to contribute to the implementation of the
Edinburgh conclusions on easier access to Community legislation.

By its nature the European Parliament is accessible to the public. The
Commission awaits with interest the outcome of its current discussions

such as on the European community's information policy as a whole. The
Birmingham European Council affirmed that national parliaments should be
more involved in the Community's activities. In the Commission's view
this will leave unchanged the key and vital role played by the European
Parliament in the community.

3. Access to Documents

On the specific matter of access to documents, the Commission in its
Communication of 5 May 1993 (COM (93) 191 final) suggested that, as a
general principle, access to documents should be permitted albeit with
certain exemptions. It considered this principle as a key element for
establishing the openness required i.e. to make the institutions more
accessible and therefore to encourage more dialogue. It has proposed a
certain number of minimum requirements and basic principles for the
establishment of a policy on access to documents. The Commission invited
the other institutions to cooperate in this development. It suggested
that this could take the form of an inter-institutional agreement. The
guiding principles which the Commission would like to reaffirm for such

access are:

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                   - 5 
  The importance of reinforcing an open relationship between the
  Community's institutions and its citizens;

  Additional actions would obviously have maximum effect if taken by
  all institutions concerned, while taking into account the specific
  role of each institution, including the particular working practices
  of each institution;

  The right balance will have to be struck between the interests of
  increased openness and transparency, and such other considerations as
  the protection of public and private interests and the importance of
  ensuring that work within the institutions can proceed in a timely
  and effective manner.

On this basis, the Commission has pursued its analysis of similar
policies applied by other administrations as well as the relevant
provisions existing at Community level. (See also the comparative survey
as annexed to COM (93) 191 final).

The commission considers that after an agreement on basic principles and
minimum requirements has been reached between the institutions, the
question of the form by which these principles are put into effect will
have to be addressed. Likewise the need for an appeal procedure will be
considered. This could include the need to revise relevant community
legislation on the classification of documents and dealing with secrecy
rules. Moreover certain administrative and organisational changes
within each institution would be required. It would also call for more
detailed guidance for staff on this policy.

Following these deliberations, the Commission has been elaborating on the
necessary key principles and requirements to allow access to documents,
in view of further discussions with the other institutions. These

additional elements are contained in annex II.

4. Relations with the General Public

The Commission is aware that the process of European integration and in
particular the implementation of the Treaty on European Union and
progress towards Community enlargement can only progress successfully
with the support of Europe's citizens.

The Member States play a particularly important role in the Community
since it is they who enact community policy. Given this importance, the
Commission invites Member states to take further action to improve
openness at national level in the implementation of Community policies.

The Commission itself feels that as a first priority it should explain
its actions more clearly and provide adequate understanding about the
Community's work. In this case, it considers that it is not so much
whether more use should be made of existing tools, but how these could be
better targeted and managed in order to convey messages, to dialogue with
and

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facilitate participation of the public in the most effective way. It
therefore has initiated a set of measures aimed at increasing openness
and transparency in its relations with the public. These are set out in
greater detail in annex III.

Taking account of the way the European Community is being constructed, it
is the Commission's view that all the relevant Community institutions,
Member State authorities and others have a role to play in the process of
making the Community's policies transparent. A transparent Community
could be better achieved by concerted action on the part of the different
authorities and organisations. It is important that the relevant partners
play their part in this area and work together.

The Commission therefore invites the other institutions, national,
regional and local authorities and non-governmental organisations to
cooperate in achieving these ends. The Commission is of the opinion that
the useful experience gained in raising awareness of the single market
could be used to develop greater openness through an accent on specific
targets and themes. In particular, the Commission should work more
closely with the European Parliament on these questions.

It is prepared to take an initiative to arrange for the development of
such common themes around which further activities of the different

partners could be structured. A round table meeting will be organised to
that end.

The institutions' offices in the Member states could play a leading role
by facilitating the implementation of the common arrangements made. The
institution's offices will also take initiatives in the promotion of
further relay partnerships with local and vocational organisations
prepared to cooperate in bringing about a wider awareness of Community
policies.

5. Final

The implementation of a Transparency policy is of importance to all
institutions. The Commission will put into place these measures within
the existing budgetary constraints bearing in mind that extra resources
are likely to be necessary.

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                               Annex 1

         Implementation of the open approach
       and of measures on special interest groups

               December 1992

I. INTRODUCTION

On 2 December 1992 the Commission adopted two complementary
communications, the first on transparency, the second on special
interest groups.

The purpose of the first communication was to provide a basis for an
initial discussion on the Commission's contribution to openness. It
was specifically addressed to those members of the public who follow
Community affairs closely.

The purpose of the second communication was to define the ground rules
for an open, structured dialogue between the Commission and special
interest groups.

The measures foreseen in both communications are at present being put
into practice. This annex describes the substantial progress that has
been made.

II. THE OPEN APPROACH

1. To bring into effect the provisions of the communication on
    transparency, action has been or is being taken on a number of

    fronts.

2. The following measures are in place:

    - publication of lists of COM documents on general topics in
      the Official Journal each week;

      inclusion in the COM series of papers of general interest
      hitherto classified as SEC documents and not normally
      published, with a view to broadening access to this
      category of information;

    - publication of work programmes and legislative programmes
      in the Official Journal to publicize action planned by the
      Commission;

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**>**

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       flagging in the legislative programme of upcoming proposals
       which will be suitable for wide-ranging preliminary
       consultations ;

     - publication in the legislative programme of a list of

       topics on which Green or White Papers will be prepared in

       1993;

     - publication in the legislative programme of plans to

       consolidate legislation;

     - adoption by the Commission on 5 May 1993 of a communication
       to the other institutions on public access to the
       institutions' documents ;

       the preparation of a interinstitutional yearbook which will
       describe in more detail the organigramme of the

       institutions.

3. As regards the preparation of commission proposals and
     decisions, with particular reference to the consultation of
     interested parties, the implementation of the notification
     procedure described in the communication (publication of a
     brief summary of proposed policy initiatives in the c series
     of the Official Journal, setting of a deadline for the receipt

     of comments...) will be reinforced.

4. Other measures relating to the dissemination of information
     have been taken or are in the process of implementation. The
     Commission had given an undertaking to increase awareness of
     its data bases and asked its services to come up with ideas
     for improving the dissemination of information.

     Activities here include:

     - publicizing and improving diffusion of existing data bases;

       improving the existing relay network, and

     - daily transmission of information to commission offices in
       the Community and certain delegations outside the
      Community.

     Actions are also underway to improve the diffusion of the
     monthly bulletin and the annual report. These official
     reference books, published in the 9 official Community
     languages describe in a systematic way the different stages of
     the decision making process related to files under preparation

     with reference to the Official Journal, COM and other

     accessible documents and equally present the community's
     activities in a general way.

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5. The Commission has defined a programme for legislative
     consolidation of various Community measures, and it encourages
     the other institutions to take part in this process. Priority

     areas for codification are under discussion. This will seek

     to implement the commitment made at Edinburgh and will reflect
     the priority given to codification in the Commission's 1993
     legislative programme. The Commission will seek to make
     concrete proposals to the Council and the European parliament
     for an accelerated procedure to allow for rapid and effective
     adoption of codified Community law.

6. Staff have been informed about the main features of the two

     communications and an administrative notice has been

     distributed, reminding staff of their rights and obligations
     under the staff regulations.

     The commission is in the process of clarifying contracts with

     temporary staff to bring them into line with the provisions of

     the Staff Regulations.

A committee, comprising the Secretary-General and the DirectorsGeneral concerned, has been set up to prepare the Commission's
position on potential conflicts of interest between assignments
undertaken by former staff and the posts they held during their time
at the Commission (Article 16 of the Staff Regulations).

III. SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Contacts have already been established with those concerned to clarify
the content of the communication on special interest groups. Their
representatives reacted favourably to the idea of self-regulation
involving the drafting of a code of conduct by the interest groups
themselves (profit-making or otherwise), a directory for profit-making
organizations and the establishment of one or more organizations to
provide a channel of communication between interest groups and the
Commission. However, interest groups have taken no steps in this

direction to date.

In order to accelerate the implementation of its policy, the
Commission considers that a number of consultation meetings should be
organized before the summer recess to outline the Commission's
intentions and to further encourage interest groups to take
appropriate initiatives.

It is worth noting that the European Parliament is also in the process
of redefining its relations with special interest groups. The
Commission intends to act in close cooperation with Parliament in this

area.

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          The plan, following a political undertaking given by the two
          Presidents, is to create a data base common to the two institutions
          containing information on interest groups which maintain relations
          with them. The groundwork has been done by Commission services and is
          awaiting finalization. The data base is to be accessible not only to
          the two institutions but also to the general public. Each institution
          will draw its own conclusions from the information stored.

          For the Commission, this means the establishment of a directory of all
          non-profit-making organizations. Inclusion in the directory will not
          imply any form of official recognition, nor will it confer any
          priviliges, such as preferential access to information or buildings.
          The aim is to create an instrument of transparency available to all
          parties, not to introduce a system of accreditation.

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                                Annex 2

               ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

The Communication from the Commission of 5 May (COM (93) 191 final) set
out the basic principles of access to documents while respecting the
existing Treaty obligations and the Acts derived thereof.

This annex seeks to expand upon these basic principles which the
commission sets out as a basis for discussion with the other

institutions.

1. Definition of a document

The definition of a document is vital for the scope of this policy.

The Commission considers a document to be a written paper or other
material containing existing data held by an institution or recognised
part of an institution.

2. A precise request from the public

Access to documents will be provided subsequent to a sufficiently
precise written request from the public, provided it is made in one of
the official Community languages. The Institutions will therefore need to
consider every such request, and decide which, if any, of the documents
that they hold best meets the requirements of the person making the
request.

3* Time Limits

A reply to a request for a document should be given as soon as possible
and as a general rule within one month. The time limit could be extended
by another four weeks if consultation, for example with Member state
authorities, other institutions, third countries or parties or an
international organisation has to take place. If a document is in the
course of being located, or if permission is still being sought from a
third party for the release of information when the time limit expires
the institution concerned shall send a holding reply.

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4. Accessibility of Documents

In its Communication on Public Access to the Institution's documents (COM
(93) 191 final) the Commission proposed that access to documents should
be permitted, albeit with certain exemptions.

The relevant Institution will consider each request on its own merits and
will examine carefully whether or not a document should be made
available. If the request applies to a classified document, the
institution will consider whether the classification should be retained.

In accordance with existing practices, each institution will
systematically review the classification given to documents.

A request for a document should be refused where it is necessary to
safeguard:

  The public interest (public security, international relations,
  monetary stability, judicial procedures, inspection and enquiries);

  Commercial, industrial and financial confidentiality, including
  intellectual property;

  Protection of the individual and personal privacy;

  Records of financial institutions;

  Financial interests of the Community;

Documents containing in particular personal views of staff and/or which
have been produced for the purpose of internal deliberations, such as the
opinions of services, are excluded from access. Once the decision has
been taken, the institution may permit access to the preparatory
documents associated with that decision.

An institution may also refuse a request which it considers to be
manifestly unreasonable i.e. when a request would undermine the
effectiveness and good functioning of the institution.

5. Documents containing information from a secondary source

As present rules indicate, a classified document received from a Member
State or Community institution retains its classification. A document
originating from any other source will, as necessary, be given an
appropriate grading by the institution. Requests for access to all
documents from secondary sources will be referred to their source.

Documents drafted by one of the EC institutions often contain information
which comes from the Member States or Community institutions, and some
of that information may be classified. At present, the drafter of the
institution's document decides on its classification. In making this
classification the drafter may only deviate from the security rating of
the secondary source if the information as such is not attributable to
the secondary source concerned, if the information is already widely
available and/or if the secondary source agrees on declassification.

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The existing Community policy as described above in this field appears to

be appropriate and could therefore continue.

6. Languages

The reply will be made in the language used by the person making the

request, provided it is one of the official languages of the Community.

The document prepared by the institution will be given in the language

requested, other documents, made at the request of the institution, for

example studies, will be given in the language in which they exist.

Account will be taken of the preference of the requestee as far as

possible.

7. Costs

Each Institution may make a charge for supplying documents but such
charge may not exceed a reasonable amount. Each of the institutions will
further investigate this area; for example, the handling of cases where
charges are small, and may cost more to collect than the revenue they
yield.

8. How to make the documents available

The Institutions could make information available either by sending an

unabridged copy, by allowing personal examination, by sending a summary

or extract. The preferences of the individual making the request must be

taken into account when deciding which of these methods is most

appropriate.

9. Committees

In the execution of its tasks, the Commission and the other institutions

are aided by a number of committees. Each institution could as
appropriate draw up a list of the committees to which access upon request
to documents will be possible, subject to the exemptions mentioned above.

10. Databases

Information contained in a data-base will be given provided the request

does not necessitate the writing of new computer programmes to sort the

data and the existing information can be made available through routine

operations. This will not affect present access on a paid basis.

11» Organisational Matters

In the further development of the outline a number of decisions have to
be taken about the way that this policy will be handled by the
Institutions (costs, fees, organisation, administrative procedures,
establishment of reading rooms...).

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                                ANNEX 3

             Openness and Transparency

          as they relate to the general public

The Commission will take additional steps designed to provide the

public with a better understanding of its work. Their aim will be not

just to make more information available, but to make it available in a

way that provides easy access, in a user-friendly format, when and

where it is required.

The following elements relating to aspects of openness and transparency

addressing the general public directly or indirectly represent a

reinforcement of existing Commission practice.

Media relations

Sound relations with the media are the first essential in any

commitment to openness. In today's Europe, and given the status of the

Community in the world, this requires the availability round-the-clock

of a professional press service. The Commission will provide the

resources and facilities necessary for 24-hour accessibility for

newspaper, radio and television inquiries.

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                  - 2 
Personal contact

While the media will continue to be the main channel of communication

between the Community and its citizens, the Commission must also be

equipped to respond quickly and effectively to individual inquiries of

all kinds. A major management priority is being given to an improvement

in the treatment of telephone, mail and personal contacts between

citizens and the commission, including, of course, contacts with

Commission services and with Commission Offices in the Member states.

The Community's public databases are to be more widely promoted and

made more user-friendly. Greater use will be made of systems open to

the general public (for example MINITEL, BTX...) to facilitate access

to information services such as the Publications office's electronic

catalogue of Community publications.

Once a new approach to press and public relations is agreed, steps will

be taken to publicise them throughout the Community.

Training and Image

The Commission is taking steps to ensure actively that openness and the

importance of communication with Community citizens are seen to be part

of its political and management culture. Such initiatives will include

special staff training and a re-examination of information and other

publications.

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                  - 3 
Networking

Even with an energetic and professional approach to press and public

relations, to ensure that the Commission develops a capacity to

communicate with Community citizens on a regional basis it will be

necessary to build on available experience of information networking.

This experience includes, for example, the Euro Info Centre project

which gives businesses access to EC information.

Commission Offices will play a leading role in the promotion of further

relay partnerships with local and vocational organisations prepared to

cooperate with the Commission in seeking to bring about a wider

awareness of what the Community means and how it works. The Commission

is taking steps to reinforce internal co-ordination of the management

and extension of relay initiatives.

Evaluation

The full use of instruments such as Eurobarometer will facilitate the

evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-benefit of information and

communication activities. Follow-up can then provide a clear indication

of the effectiveness of Commission and other initiatives aimed at

bringing the Community closer to its citizens.

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## **EN**

###### ISSN 0254-1475

### **COM (93) 258 final**

# **DOCUMENTS**

### **Catalogue number : CB-CO-93-290-EN-C** **ISBN 92-77-56504-7**

###### Office for Official Publications of the European Communities L-2985 Luxembourg