28 March 2012
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Green/EFA group Press release, Strasbourg/Luxembourg, 13 March, 2001
Hautala
vs Council on Partial Access to Documents: Council's secrecy enthusiasm totally
out of proportion
Heidi Hautala MEP, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the
European parliament, appeared in a European Court of Justice
hearing on access to documents on Tuesday, March 13. Council
had appealed against a ruling by the Court of First Instance
in favour of Ms Hautala. The Council was supported in the case
by Spain and Hautala by Finland, Denmark, Sweden and the UK.
Council representative, Ms Jill Assaunt, said that the Council cannot be expected to implement a blanket right of information. Ms Assaunt maintained that the Council is in no way legally bound to consider partial access to any documents. The Council also insisted on its view that a document becomes a totally new one if parts of it are blanked out. At the end of the hearing, Heidi Hautala commented:
"The Council's view that a document changes completely
from the initial
document is formalistic and unacceptable. This kind of argumentation
seems
to imply that the Council is skating on thin ice."
The principle of partial access to documents is particularly
important now since the institutions are at present considering
the Commission's proposal for a regulation on openness. The proposal
even refers to the Hautala case
since she won the first round in the Court of First Instance.
In 1996 Heidi Hautala put a question to the Council asking
about the criteria on arms exports. In its answer, the Council
referred to a report concerning the implementation of these criteria
and Ms Hautala asked to see this report. The Council denied access,
even after a formal application, compelling Heidi Hautala to
take the matter to the Court of First Instance. This ruled in
favour of Ms Hautala saying that the Council should at least
have considered partial access.
In the ECJ hearing Ms Assaunt stated that partial access may
or may not appear in the regulation on public access to documents.
Ms Hautala responded:
"The outcome of this case will be important. It is evident
that the Council is after a right for consideration which is
completely out of proportion. If a large document has one sentence
that is to be kept confidential, it is unacceptable for the whole
document to be left undisclosed."
Ms Hautala was represented by Dutch attorney Mr Onno W. Brouwer
who emphasised that the Council is legally bound to consider
partial access with respect to every application. Brower shared
the view of the Finnish government that since the Council has
already applied partial access in many cases it must do so in
every case if the citizens are to be treated equally. The administrative
burden of doing this will be of no importance since the Council
has to go through the requested document anyway to screen if
it includes confidential elements. Ms Hautala concluded:
"I am very pleased that many of the governments have
intervened on my behalf. They too regard access to documents
to be a democratic right of the citizens. Access to documents
is the only guarantee for the citizens to be able to exercise
control on the decision making of governments. It is not enough
if governments control governments."
-----------------------------------------
For further information please contact:
Heidi Hautala: +358-(0)-50-60076 or
Eluned Haf
Press Office
Green/ EFA group in the European Parliament
ehaf@europarl.eu.int <mailto:ehaf@europarl.eu.int>
Tel: (Bxl) +32 2 284 41665 / (Str) + 33 3 88172936
Mobile: +32 497 480 255
Fax: (Bxl) +32 2 2844944 / (Str) + 33 3 88241196
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