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UK parliament report says the Commission's proposed new code on access to EU documents: "far from satisfactory"

01 November 2000

The Select Committee on the European Union of the UK House of Lords has issued an excellent report on the Commission's proposed Regulation on public access to EU documents. It says there are some benefits in the Commission's proposal the report but that "there are a number of areas where the Regulation is far from satisfactory": The Committee's Opinion and Summary of Recommendations

The report says that on the key issues of the definition of documents and the exceptions "there is a need for radical amendment if the objective of increased openness is to be achieved". It contains a detailed analysis of each of the proposed Articles: The Committee's Analysis

The Committee heard verbal evidence from the UK Foreign Office, the Head of the Legal Department of the European Ombudsman office, the European Commission, the Bar European Group, the European Environmental Bureau, Professor Deirdre Curtin, the Swedish government and from Statewatch. The background to the new measure: Background