Title: Evolution of the EU law with respect to public access to documents and transparency: the Treaty of Lisbon

Authors: Alessia Vacca

Addresses: School of Law, University of Aberdeen, Taylor Building, Old Aberdeen, AB24 3UB, UK

Abstract: Public access to administrative documents is a very important issue in order to guarantee transparency in the institutions and, consequently, democracy. In the EU law there has been an evolution with respect to public access to documents. Before the Maastricht Treaty, secrecy was the norm in the EU institutions. The Council and the Commission adopted in December 1993, a common Code of Conduct on public access. The Treaty of Amsterdam brought improvements in respect of transparency, including a specific provision on public access: article 255 EC, which provides that the European Parliament and Council shall lay down rules on public access. A further step was Regulation 1049/2001 and some ECJ judgments. The Treaty of Lisbon also stressed the importance of transparency in good governance.

Keywords: transparency; public access; administrative documents; democracy; Lisbon Treaty; Reform Treaty; treaties; international agreements; European Union; European Constitution; constitutional frameworks; ECJ; European Court of Justice; EU law; Maastricht Treaty; TEU; secrecy; European Council; codes of conduct; European Commission; Amsterdam Treaty; European Parliament; EC Regulation 1049/2001; legal judgments; case law; judicial decisions; governance; John Carvel; The Guardian; newspapers; UK; United Kingdom; Jose Maria Sison; Philippines; Netherlands; Holland; terrorists; terrorism; Access Info Europe; Ciaràn Toland; Ireland; scientific enquiry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSE.2012.045532

International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, 2012 Vol.5 No.1, pp.79 - 91

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article