European Ombudsman: access to the documents published by the European institutions. Special report

Adopting the report by Mrs Astrid Thors (ELDR, FIN) on the special report by the European Ombudsman on public access to documents, Parliament approves the proposal to adopt a code of conduct on good administrative practice by Community Institutions and bodies. It calls for the right of recourse to the Court of First Instance or the Court of Justice to contest decisions refusing access to documents and for all Community Institutions to follow the example of the Council and introduce a public register of documents in all the Community languages. It calls on all Community Institutions and bodies to designate a specific person or service to act as an initial point of reference for enquiries or applications for documents from concerned citizens. It urges the various Institutions to give budgetary priority to setting up the necessary infrastructure for enabling the right of access to documents to become a full reality in as short a time as possible and calls on the Commission and Member States to encourage administrative cooperation so as to improve transparency and understanding of Community law. �