On Monday 15 November the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, called for a revision of Regulation 1049/20 on public access to documents of EU institutions to update it for modern communication technology.
“This cornerstone of EU transparency comes from a radically different era, predating many modern tools such as smartphones, instant messaging and big data. It needs to catch up with today’s reality while maintaining its core strengths”, Ms O’Reilly said in a statement.
In her view, EU law should also be more closely aligned with citizens’ rights, encourage more transparency and take into account existing case law on transparency in decision-making.
The European Ombudsman has also called for the publication of a guide for EU administrations so that they can be more effective in implementing their obligations regarding the public’s right of access to documents. In particular, she has called for the establishment of a policy for the publication and preservation of documents and the systematic creation of public registers of documents.
See the guide: https://bit.ly/3niHZiq (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)