Public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents

PURPOSE : to bring together the measures relating to the register of European Parliament documents in a single decision with a view to facilitating transparency for citizens.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BUREAU DECISION ON PUBLIC ACCESS TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DOCUMENTS : 28 November 2001.

CONTENT : a register of references shall be established within the European Parliament. The register of references thus created shall contain references to documents drawn up or received by the European Parliament as from the date from which Regulation 1049/2001/EC is applicable, that is, 3 December 2001. The register of references shall be structured so as to allow: use of a uniform reference system; direct access to documents, in particular legislative documents, in electronic form; identification of documents which cannot be accessed electronically; searches for documents which are not adequately identified by applicants; the identification of documents in respect of which public

access is subject to the limits laid down in Articles 4 and 9 of Regulation 1049/2001/EC; recording of confidential documents, in compliance with the limits laid down in Article 9 of the above Regulation.

All documents drawn up or received by the European Parliament under the legislative procedure must be accessible

to citizens in electronic form. In this connection, the European Parliament will make all legislative documents accessible through the register, to enable citizens to have access to the full texts of documents. The European Parliament will make this register electronically accessible on the Europarl website and provide on-line assistance to citizens concerning arrangements for submitting applications for access to documents. Other documents, in particular documents relating to the drafting of policy or strategy, shall be made directly accessible as far as possible. The categories of documents that are directly accessible shall be set out in a list adopted by the European Parliament

and annexed to its Rules of Procedure. Documents not included on that list will be accessible on written request.

Documents drawn up or received by the European Parliament outside the legislative procedure shall, as far as possible, be directly accessible to citizens through the register, subject to the limits laid down in Regulation 1049/2001/EC.

ENTRY INTO FORCE : 29/12/2001. The register of references shall take effect on 03/06/2002.