Author: Stephanie Schiedermair
- The discussions of the Board shall be confidential where the Board deems it necessary, as provided for in its rules of procedure.
- Access to documents submitted to members of the Board, experts and representatives of third parties shall be governed by Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
I. Introduction
The rules of procedure of the Art. 29 WP required that its deliberations be confidential (save where decided otherwise by the Art. 29 WP); yet the need for transparency regarding public documents resulted in prioritising access and publicity (as the rule) over confidentiality (the exception).
II. Legal background
Under Art. 11 of the rules of procedure of the Art. 29 WP, ‘the minutes and any draft documents of the Working Party shall be restricted documents, unless the Working Party decides otherwise (…) (o)pinions, recommendations and any other document adopted by the Working Party shall be published on the website, unless the Working Party decides otherwise’.
Moreover, Art. 42 of the CFR stipulates that ‘(a)ny citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, has a right of access to documents of the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union, whatever their medium’.
Furthermore, under Art. 15 para. 3 of the TFEU, ‘(a)ny citizen of the Union, and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, shall have a right of access to documents of the Union’s institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (…) General principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access to documents shall be determined by the European Parliament and the Council, by means of regulations, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (…) Each institution, body, office or agency shall ensure that its proceedings are transparent and shall elaborate in its own Rules of Procedure specific provisions regarding access to its documents (…)’.
Last, case law of the CJEU and the General Court has demonstrated the need for transparency concerning public documents, and stressed that ‘primary EU law establishes a close relationship that, in principle, exists between legislative procedures and the principles of openness and transparency’.
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