By Martin Banks - 18th June 2009
Legislation should take place in as open an environment as possible
House of Lords report
A new report by the UK House of Lords EU committee raises concerns that commission proposals designed to improve transparency will exclude draft documents from being made available to the public.
It says the commission's proposals would see documents that had not been 'formally transmitted' exempt from disclosure.
The committee argues that any such blanket exemption would involve too great a limit on the public's right to access EU documents.
"This is not an appropriate way to balance the competing interests in protection and disclosure," it says.
The report also points out that the proposal that member states should be able to object to the disclosure of documents at EU level for reasons of their own could "significantly reduce" the right of access.
The committee calls for clarification on which documents would come within the scope of this proposed exemption.
Lord Mance, chairman of the Lords EU sub-committee on law and institutions, said, "Providing public access to documents is a key element in securing the accountability of European institutions to European citizens.
"We support attempts to make the EU more open to public scrutiny and hope the commission use this opportunity to improve public access to documents, not limit it further.
" For that reason we think it is important that access to draft documents is maintained.
"It is not appropriate for the European commission to establish arbitrary definitions of the point where a document is 'formally transmitted' in order to maintain space for policy development.
"We are concerned that the UK government are seeking greater restrictions on the publication of legal advice in respect of legislation, and of negotiating positions adopted by member states.
"Legislation should take place in as open an environment as possible."
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