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Final version of the new EU code of access to documents

01 June 2001

The final version of the new code of access to EU documents was adopted at the Youth Council on 28 May and wias published in the Official Journal on 31 May (L 145) and the Regulation will come into effect 3 days after this. The three institutions - the Council, Commission and European Parliament - have to provide a public register of documents (Article 11) within 12 months (by June 2002). Text (pdf file) Text (Word 97 file)

Netherlands withdraws case

On 22 September 2000 the Netherlands government decided to take out a court case in the Court of First Instance against the Council of the European Union over the "Solana Decision" of 26 July 2000, see: Netherlands . Sweden: Sweden and Finland: Finland joined the Netherlands case.

In an unreported change-around the Netherlands government has withdrawn its case. This decision coincided with the the meeting of COREPER (the committee of permanent representatives of the 15 EU governments) which agreed the "deal" with the European Parliament on 25 April 2001.

European Parliament to withdraw its case?

On 13 September 2000 the European Parliament decided to take the Council of the European Union to the Court of First Instance over the "Solana Decision" of 26 July 2000: European Parliament However, the parliament is now negotiating with the Council on the creation of a "Select Committee" (working title) of three or four senior MEPs who will be given access to classified documents. It is thought these MEPs will have to be vetted to meet NATO "standards". This agreement was understood - during the negotiations over the new code - to be part of the "deal" between the Council and the parliament. It is expected that the new agreement will be followed by the withdrawal of the parliament's court case.