CELEX: 51988PC0484
Language: en
Date: 1988-10-24
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT

30. 12. 88                               Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 335/5
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                    COMMISSION
               Proposal for a Council Directive on the freedom of access to information on the environment
                                                        COM(88) 484 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 31 October 1988)
                                                           (88/C 335/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             Whereas the European Parliament also stressed, in its
                                                                     opinion on the fourth action programme of the
                                                                     European Communities on the environment (6), the need
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                to enable each individual to gain access to information
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130s                   on the environment by way of specific Community
thereof,                                                             action;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   Whereas the public authorities hold a large quantity of
                                                                     data on the environment, collected or prepared in the
                                                                     exercise of their legal powers;
Having regard        to   the    opinion  of   the   European
Parliament,                                                          Whereas free access to data on the environment held by
                                                                     the public authorities would help to increase public
                                                                     participation in the procedures to control pollution and
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                     prevent demage to the environment; whereas,
Social Committee,                                                    accordingly, it could make an effective contribution to
                                                                     achieving the objectives of Community action on the
Considering the principles and objectives defined by the             environment, in line with Article 130r (2) of the EEC
action programmes of the European Communities on the                 Treaty;
environment of 1973 (»), 1977 (2) and 1983 (3), and more
particularly the action programme of 1987 (4), which                 Whereas isolated action by the Member States cannot
underlines the 'need to render the whole process of regu-            adequately guarantee the elimination of obstacles to
lation and application of existing rules more transparent,           access to data on the environment held by the public
particularly as far as public information is concerned'              authorities, particularly in the case of cross-frontier
and calls for devising 'ways of improving public access to           pollution; whereas, consequently, Community action
information held by environmental authorities';                      seems necessary in accordance with Article 130r (4) of
                                                                     the EEC Treaty;
Whereas the Council of the European Communities and                  Whereas the numerous disparities between the laws in
the representatives of the Governments of the Member                 force in the Member States concerning access to data on
States, meeting within the Council, declared in their                the environment held by the public authorities can create
Resolution of 19 October 1987 on the continuation and                unequal conditions of competition;
implementation of a European Community policy and
action programme on the environment (1987 to 1992) (5)
                                                                     Whereas the obligations imposed by this Directive should
that it was important, in compliance with the respective
                                                                     place no new administrative or financial burdens on busi-
responsibilities of the Community and the Member
                                                                     nesses;
States, to concentrate Community action on certain
priority areas, including better access to information on
the environment;                                                     Whereas the priority objective of Community action
                                                                     should be to guarantee, throughout the Community, free
                                                                     access to data held by the public authorities concerning
                                                                     the state of the environment, polluting activities or acti-
                                                                     vities likely to damage the environment and protection of
0)  OJ No   C  112, 20. 12. 1973.
                                                                     remedial measures taken or envisaged;
(2) OJ No   C  139, 13. 6. 1977.
C)  OJ No   C 46, 17. 2. 1983.
C)  OJ No   C 70, 18. 3. 1987.
(5) OJ No   C 289, 29. 10. 1987.                                     (6) OJ No C 156, 15. 6. 1987.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 335/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  30. 12. 88
Whereas not only the data contained in written                         — the state of water, air, soil, fauna, flora and
documents but also the data incorporated in data-                           natural sites and any changes therein;
processing bases and visual recordings held by the public
authorities must be accessible to the public;
                                                                       — public or private projects and activities likely to
                                                                           damage the environment, or endanger human
Whereas free access must be ensured even with regard to                    health and plant or animal species, in particular
data supplied to the government by other persons where                      as regards emission, discharge or release of
the government could legitimately demand transmission                       substances, living organisms or energy into water,
of that information or obtain it itself; whereas it must                   the air or soil and the manufacture and use of
not be limited solely to persons who can prove a                            dangerous products or substances;
legitimate interest in the case;
                                                                       — measures to preserve, protect and improve the
Whereas a provision recognizing the right of access of                     quality of water, air, soil, fauna, flora and
every natural or legal person to information on the envi-                  natural sites plus measures designed to prevent
ronment held by the public authorities would eliminate                     damage and repair any damage caused.
any discrimination on the grounds of the nationality or
place of residence of natural persons or of the articles of
association of place of business of legal persons and thus        (b) 'Information held by the public authorities' means all
guarantee elimination of the obstacles to the freedom of               existing data collected or prepared by the bodies
access to information on the environment in the case of                referred to in paragraph (c) which are contained:
cross-frontier pollution;
                                                                       — in written documents, such as reports, studies,
Whereas decisions refusing the supply or consultation of                   opinions and decisions, with the exception of
data on the environment held by the public authorities                     unfinished documents,
must be justified and notified in writing; whereas the
applicant must always have the possibility of appealing                — in data-processing bases, and
against such decisions;
                                                                      — in visual recordings.
Whereas the protection of the essential interests of the
Member States, companies and private individuals
requires the establishment of a number of exceptions to               This also includes information supplied by other
the right of access to information on the environment                  people when the body receiving the information had
held by the public authorities;                                        the right to obtain it itself or to demand transmission
                                                                       of that information in exercising its legal powers.
Whereas active publicity should play an important role as
part of an overall strategy to disseminate information on         (c) 'Public authorities' means State administrations and
the environment; whereas, consequently, it seems                       any public body or State-supervised body with
necessary to make the publication of national reports on               powers at national, regional or local level.
the state of the environment obligatory, to lay down the
minimum frequency of publication of these reports and
to harmonize the broad outline of their content,                       Bodies exercising judicial powers or legislative bodies
                                                                       are not included in the definition in the preceding
                                                                       paragraph.
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                                                                              Article 3
                          Article 1                               The right of access to information on the environment
                                                                  held by the public authorities shall be guaranteed to any
Freedom of access to information on the environment
                                                                  natural or legal person without their having to display an
held by the public authorities and its dissemination shall
                                                                  interest.
be ensured throughout the Community in accordance
with the provisions of this Directive.
                                                                                              Article 4
                          Article 2                               1.    Access to information contained in the written
For the purposes of this Directive:                               documents referred to at the first indent of Article 2 (b)
                                                                  shall be, by written request and at the option of the
                                                                  applicant, either by consultation free-of-charge on the
(a) 'Information relating to the environment' means all           spot or by the issue of copies, in which case the applicant
    data, of a factual or legal nature, concerning:               shall be charged the actual cost of reproduction.
 ---pagebreak---  30. 12. 88                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 335/7
2.    The information contained in data-processing bases          — trade and industrial secrecy;
and visual recordings in the possession of the authorities
                                                                  — privacy and, in particular, compliance with national
shall also be obtainable in written form under the
                                                                      provisions to protect the confidentiality of personal
conditions set out in the preceding paragraph.
                                                                      data held in administrative archives and files.
                          Article 5                               2.    The documents held by public authorities shall be
                                                                  supplied in part where it is possible to eliminate from the
 1.   Any request for information on the environment              copy to be supplied to the applicant items which, if
held by the public authorities shall indicate as accurately       disseminated, would affect the interests referred to in the
as possible the purpose of the request.                           preceding paragraph.
2.    The authorities shall take any measures needed to           3.    Reasons involving privacy or trade and industrial
indentify and make available to the applicant the                 secrecy relating to facts which are personal to the
documents containing the information in question.                 applicant may not be held against him.
                                                                  4.    The public authorities may refuse any manifestly
                          Article 6
                                                                  unreasonable request.
 1.   Any refusal to supply information on the envi-
ronment held by the public authorities shall be explained                                  Article 9
in a reasoned decision which shall be notified in writing
                                                                  1.    At least every three years from 1 January 1992
to the applicant.
                                                                  onwards Member States shall publish and disseminate a
                                                                 report on the state of the environment containing a
2.    Failure to give notification within a period of one
                                                                 general analysis of the national situation, the state of
month shall amount to refusal.
                                                                 water, air, soil, flora, fauna and natural sites and a
                                                                  description of the principal measures taken or planned to
                          Article 7                              preserve, protect and improve the quality of the envi-
                                                                 ronment and to repair any damage caused.
Within the   scope of this Directive the justification of an
express or   tacit decision to refuse information by the          2.    The national reports on the state of the envi-
authorities  shall be subject to administrative and legal        ronment shall be transmitted to the Commission as soon
control by   the means available to each national legal           as they are published.
system.
                                                                                           Article 10
                          Article 8
                                                                  1.    Member States shall bring into force the laws,
1.    The right of access to information guaranteed by           regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
this Directive may be restricted where it would affect:          comply with this Directive by . . . at the latest. They
                                                                 shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
— the secrecy of government proceedings;
                                                                  2.    Member States shall communicate to the
— the secrecy of international negotiations;
                                                                  Commission the main provisions of national law which
— the secrecy of national defence;                               they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
— State security or public security;                                                       Article 11
— the secrecy of procedures brought before the courts;           This Directive is addressed to the Member States.