Strasbourg, 13/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Following a recommendation from the European Ombudsman in March, the European Commission has agreed to provide the environmental organization "Friends of the Earth" with total access to two studies on the environment in Gibraltar. Jacob Soederman welcomed this decision for transparency and public access to documents.
Initially, the Commission had refused access to these two studies regarding Britain's respect of directives over garbage and hazardous waste, as well as on habitats. It claimed that these studies undertaken by an independent consultant were part of the preliminary enquiries necessary for the opening of possible proceedings for non-compliance and should thus not be communicated to the public. In his recommendation, the Ombudsman stressed that the two studies had been commissioned before any enquiry had been initiated and that the interpretation of the scope of the inspections and enquiries that the Commission had initially provided would have meant that all categories of documents linked to the respect of Community law by Member States would have escaped from public access.