Access to documents. European Ombudsman Special report following complaint 713/98/IJh

The European Parliament, using its procedure without debate, adopted the report by Jean LAMBERT (Greens/EFA, United Kingdom) on the Ombudsman special report. It endorsed the Ombudsman's conclusion and considered that the Commission had misinterpreted Directive 95/46/EC when applying the Directive to a request for information concerning the names of participants representing a trade organisation to a meeting organised by the Commission. The aim of data protection is primarily to protect the private life and sensitive information, and it should not be referred to when people are acting in a public capacity, while they are taking part in public decision making on their own initiative or while they try to influence such decision making. The Working Party on Data Protection is asked to inform Parliament on codes of conduct on data protection adopted by trade organisations and other bodies of control, in particular of codes submitted to it for assessment of compatibility with provisions adopted Member States.�