European Union citizens making more requests for Commission documents

Europe’s citizens are showing an ever greater interest in European Commission activities over a growing number of policy areas. That’s the conclusion of the latest annual report on public access to documents, which shows an 18 per cent increase in the number of requests for documents in 2010.

In total, the Commission received 6,361 requests for access to documents in 2010. This compares to 5,401 in 2009 – and just 450 a decade ago. These requests concerned everything from a single document to entire files concerning various administrative procedures. The many requests for documents that were already publicly available are not included in these figures. Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said: “These figures reflect a growing interest in Commission activities and I welcome that. Disclosure of documents is often in the public interest and is a key way of increasing transparency. This can only be a good thing. Greater transparency ensures that the Commission is open to public scrutiny and accountable for its work.”

Competition policy topped the list of areas of interest, accounting for nearly one in 10 requests, followed by home and justice affairs, transport and energy, the internal market and the environment. The biggest proportion of requests came from people or organisations based in Belgium (17.95 per cent), with Germany close behind (16.62 per cent).

In certain limited circumstances defined by the legislation (Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001), the Commission can refuse to supply a document. Nevertheless, full access was granted in more than four out of five cases. The principal reasons for refusing an initial request in 2010 were: protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits, protection of the Commission’s decision-making process and protection of commercial interests.

This reflects the fact that many requests concern a specific, private interest rather than a general, public interest. Complainants in infringement proceedings, competitors or alleged victims of anti-competitive behaviour are among those who request documents of interest to themselves, but which cannot be made publicly available without harming a legitimate countervailing interest.

The report points out that analysing such requests creates a substantial administrative burden that consumes significant public resources. But recent case law from the Court of Justice, also outlined in the report, should help establish a balance between different rights, and increase efficiency in dealing with requests.

The 2010 Annual Report on Access to Commission Documents is available on the access to documents website:

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/access_documents/index_en.htm