Activities of Sonia ALFANO related to 2008/0090(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (debate)
Amendments (17)
Amendment 70 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2
Article 2
Beneficiaries and scope 1. Any natural or legal person shall have a right of access to documents of the institutions, subject to the principles, conditions and limits defined in this Regulation. 2. This Regulation shall apply to all documents held by an institution, namely, documents drawn up or received by it and in its possession concerning a matter relating to the policies, activities and decisions falling within its sphere of responsibility , in all areas of activity of the European Union. 3. Without prejudice to Articles 4 and 9, documents shall be made accessible to the public either following a written application or directly in electronic form or through a register. In particular, documents drawn up or received in the course of a legislative procedure shall be made directly accessible in accordance with Article 12. 4. Sensitive documents as defined in Article 9(1) shall be subject to special treatment in accordance with that Article. 5. This Regulation shall not apply to documents submitted to Courts by parties other than the institutions. 6. Without prejudice to specific rights of access for interested parties established by EC law, documentor any association of legal or natural persons shall have a right of access to documents of the institutions, bodies, offices forming part of the administrative file of an investigation or of proceedings concerning an act of individual scope shall not be accessible to the public until the investigation has been closed or the act has become definitive. Documents containing information gathered or obtained from natural or legal persons by an institution in the framework of such investigations shall not be accessible to the public. 7. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to rights of public access to documents held by the institutions which might follow from instruments of international law or acts of the institutions implementing them agencies, subject to the principles, conditions and limits defined in this Regulation.
Amendment 76 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 a (new)
Article 2 a (new)
Article 2a Scope 1. This Regulation shall apply to all documents held by a Union institution, body, office and agency, that is to say documents drawn up or received by it and in its possession, in all areas of activity of the Union. This Regulation shall apply to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank, only in the course of the performance of their administrative tasks. 2. Documents shall be made accessible to the public either in electronic form in the Official Journal of the European Union, or in an official register of an institution, body, office or agency, or following a written application. The documents drawn up or received in the course of a legislative procedure shall be made directly accessible in accordance with Article 12 of this Regulation. 3. This Regulation shall be without prejudice to enhanced rights of public access to documents held by the institutions which might follow from instruments of international law or acts of the institutions implementing such instruments or by the law of the Member States.
Amendment 78 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – point a
Article 3 – point a
(a) "document" shall means any data, information or content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording) drawn-up by an institution and formally transmitted to one or more recipients or otherwise registconcerning a matter relating to the policies, activities and decisions falling within the sphered, orf received by an institution; data contained in electronic storage, processing and retrieval systems are documents if they can be extracted in the form of a printout or electronic-format copy using the available tools for the exploitation of the system ;sponsibility of a Union institution, body, office or agency; data and information contained in electronic storage, processing and retrieval systems, including external systems used for the institution's work, constitute a document. The functions for the retrieval of information stored in electronic storage systems shall be adapted in order to satisfy requests from the public. An institution, body, office or agency that intends to create a new electronic storage system, or to substantially change an existing system, shall ensure that the right of access guaranteed by this Regulation is guaranteed and act so as to promote the objective of transparency.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point b
Amendment 91 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
3. Access to the following documents shall be refused if their disclosure would manifestly and seriously underminedisrupt the decision-making process of the institutions: and only as long as the decision has not been taken. This exception does not apply to documents forming part of the legislative procedure.
Amendment 93 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point a
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point a
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point b
Amendment 98 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 4
Article 4 – paragraph 4
4. The exceptions under paragraphs (2) and (3)receding paragraphs shall apply unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. As regards paragraph 2(a)Such an overriding public interest in disclosure shall be deemed to exist where the information requested relates to emissions into the environment, the principle of publicity, democracy, the rule of law, the protection of fundamental rights, and particularly the right to live in a healthy environment. Disclosure of public procurement or framework contracts between an institution and a supplier shall not fall within the scope of the exceptions set out in paragraph 2.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 7
Article 4 – paragraph 7
7. The exceptions as laid down in this Article shall onlynot apply for the period during which protection is justified on the basis of the content of the document. The exceptions may apply for a maximum period of 30 years. In the case of documents covered by the exceptions relating to the protectto documents transmitted in the framework of procedures leading to a legislative act or delegated or implementing act of general application, or to documents relating to the implementation of Union acts and policies or use and beneficiaries of Union funds. The exceptions may apply only for as long as is justified by the content of the document and in any event for a maximum periond of personal data or commercial inter30 years. At each requests and in the case of sensitive documents, the exceptions may, if necessary, continue to apply after this perioany event at regular intervals, the applicability of the exception shall be reviewed.
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2
Article 5 – paragraph 2
2. Where an application concerns a document originating from a Member State, other than documents transmitted in the framework of procedures leading to a legislative act or a non-legislativedelegated or implementing act of general application, the authorities of that Member State shall be consulted in case of doubt as to whether the document could be covered by one of the exceptions. The institution holding the document shall disclose it, unless the Member State gives reasons for withholding it, based on the exceptions referred to in Article 4 or on specific provisions in its own legislation preventing disclosure of the document concerned. The institution shall appreciate the adequacy of reasons given by the Member State insofar as they are based on exceptions laid down in this Regulation. The institution shall appreciate the adequacy of reasons given by the Member State and take a decision on the basis of its own judgment as to whether the exceptions cover the document concerned. This Article shall not apply to documents relating to the implementation of Union acts or policies or of use and beneficiaries of Union funds, or to documents of Member States acting in their capacity as members of the Council.
Amendment 122 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 a (new)
Article 5 a (new)
Article 5a Legislative acts 1. In compliance with the democratic principles outlined in Articles 9 to 12 TEU and with the case-law of the Court of Justice, institutions acting in their legislative capacity, including under delegated and implementing powers, shall grant the widest possible access to documents relating to their activities. 2. Documents relating to legislative programmes, preliminary civil society consultations, impact assessments and any other preparatory documents, as well as documents relating to the implementation of Union law and policies linked to a legislative procedure shall be accessible on a user-friendly and coordinated interinstitutional site and published in a special electronic series of the Official Journal of the European Union. 3. During the legislative procedure, each institution, body, office or agency associated in the decision-making process shall publish its preparatory documents and all related information, including legal opinions, in a special series of the Official Journal of the European Union as well on a common Internet site reproducing the lifecycle of the procedure concerned. 4. Once adopted, legislative acts shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union as provided for by Article 13.
Amendment 125 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 2
Article 7 – paragraph 2
2. In exceptional cases, for example in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number of documents, the time-limit provided for in paragraph 1 may be extended byonly once for a maximum period of 15 working days, provided that the applicant is notified in advance and that detailed reasons are given.
Amendment 126 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 2
Article 8 – paragraph 2
2. In exceptional cases, for example in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number of documents, the time limit provided for in paragraph 1 may be extended byonly once for a maximum period of 15 working days, provided that the applicant is notified in advance and that detailed reasons are given.
Amendment 127 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 8 – paragraph 4
Article 8 – paragraph 4
4. Failure by the institution to reply within the prescribed time limit shall be considered as a negapositive reply and shall entitle the applicant to institute court proceedings against the institution and/or make a complaint to the Ombudsman, under the relevant provisions of the EC Treatyhave access to the document.
Amendment 130 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 10 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. The content of a document shall be available without discrimination on the grounds of visual impairment, working language or operating system platform. Institutions shall provide for actual access by an applicant to the content of documents without technical discrimination.
Amendment 134 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Financial transparency and traceability shall also be ensured. Information relating to the Union budget, its implementation and beneficiaries of Union funds and grants shall be made public and accessible to citizens. Such information shall contain the budget line, the call for tender, the list of applicants for the selection procedure, the names of the recipients and beneficiaries, the names, sectors, types and dates of the operations and the amount of public funding allocated to the operations, the reasons for selection, the recipient (State, international organisation, Member State and region, etc) involved, and any implementation, evaluation or audit document. Such information shall also be accessible via a specific website and database, searchable on the basis of the above information, dealing with financial transparency in the Union.
Amendment 135 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 16 – paragraph 1
Article 16 – paragraph 1
This Regulation shall be without prejudice to any existing rules on copyright which may limit a third party's right to obtain copies of documents or to reproduce or exploit released documents.