Decision No 12-2005 of the Court of Auditors of the European Communities of 10 March 2005 regarding public access to Court of Auditors documents

20.4.2005 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 96/1
DECISION No 12-2005
of 10 March 2005
regarding public access to Court of Auditors documents
(2005/C 96/01)
THE COURT OF AUDITORS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to its Rules of Procedure (1), and in particular Article 30 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (2), and in particular Articles 143(2) and 144(1) thereof,
Whereas:
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.
In the Joint Declaration (3) relating to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (4), the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission call on the other institutions to adopt internal rules on public access to documents which take account of the principles and limits set out in that Regulation.
The provisions laid down in Decision No 18/97 of the Court of Auditors laying down internal rules for the treatment of applications for access to documents held by the Court (5) antedate Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and should be revised in the light of that Regulation and of the case-law of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance.
Openness enhances the administration’s legitimacy, effectiveness and accountability, thus strengthening the principles of democracy. To that end good administrative practice on access to documents should be promoted.
However, certain public and private interests should be protected by way of exceptions to the principle of public access to documents. In particular international auditing standards concerning the confidential nature of audit information must be duly respected,