Previous 
 Next 
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament
7th parliamentary term - July 2009
PDF 1224k
CONTENTS
INDEX
NOTE TO THE READER

TITLE III  : TRANSPARENCY OF BUSINESS

Rule 104  : Public access to documents

1.    Any citizen of the Union and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State has a right of access to Parliament documents in conformity with Article 255 of the EC Treaty, subject to the principles, conditions and limits laid down in European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and pursuant to the specific provisions contained in these Rules of Procedure.

Access to Parliament documents shall as far as possible be granted to other natural or legal persons in the same way.

Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall be published for information alongside the Rules of Procedure.

2.    For the purposes of access to documents, the expression 'Parliament documents' means any content within the meaning of Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 which has been drawn up or received by Officers of Parliament within the meaning of Title I, Chapter 2, of these Rules, Parliament's governing bodies, committees or interparliamentary delegations, or by Parliament's Secretariat.

Documents drawn up by individual Members or political groups are Parliament documents for the purposes of access to documents if they are tabled under the Rules of Procedure.

The Bureau shall lay down rules to ensure that all Parliament documents are recorded.

3.    Parliament shall establish a register of Parliament documents. Legislative documents and certain other categories of documents shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, be made directly accessible through the register. References for other Parliament documents shall as far as possible be included in the register.

Categories of documents which are directly accessible shall be set out in a list adopted by the Bureau and published on Parliament's website. This list shall not restrict the right of access to documents not falling under the categories listed; those documents shall be made available on written application.

The Bureau may adopt rules, in conformity with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, laying down arrangements for access which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

4.    The Bureau shall determine the authorities in charge of handling initial applications (Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001) and shall adopt decisions on confirmatory applications (Article 8 of the Regulation) and applications for sensitive documents (Article 9 of the Regulation).

5.    The Conference of Presidents shall designate Parliament's representatives on the interinstitutional committee established pursuant to Article 15(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

6.    One of the Vice-Presidents shall be responsible for supervising the handling of applications for access to documents.

7.    Parliament's committee responsible shall, on the basis of information provided by the Bureau and other sources, prepare the annual report referred to in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and submit it to the plenary.

The committee responsible shall also examine and evaluate the reports adopted by the other institutions and agencies pursuant to Article 17 of the Regulation.

Legal notice - Privacy policy