Rule 116 : Public access to documents

1.   Any citizen of the Union and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State has a right of access to Parliament documents in accordance with Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Such access to Parliament documents is subject to the principles, conditions and limits laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

Access to Parliament documents shall as far as possible be granted to other natural or legal persons in the same way.

2.   For the purpose of access to documents, the term 'Parliament documents' means any content within the meaning of Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 which has been drawn up or received by officers of Parliament within the meaning of Title I, Chapter 2, of these Rules, by Parliament's governing bodies, committees or interparliamentary delegations, or by Parliament's Secretariat.

In accordance with Article 4 of the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, documents drawn up by individual Members or political groups are Parliament documents for the purposes of access to documents only if they are tabled in accordance with the Rules of Procedure.

The Bureau shall lay down rules to ensure that all Parliament documents are registered.

3.   Parliament shall establish a public register website for Parliament documents. Legislative documents and certain other categories of documents shall, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, be made directly accessible through Parliament's public register website. References to other Parliament documents shall, as far as possible, be included in Parliament’s public register website.

The categories of documents which are to be directly accessible through Parliament's public register website shall be set out in a list adopted by the Bureau and published on Parliament's public register website. That list shall not restrict the right of access to documents not falling within the categories listed; those documents may be made available on written application in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

The Bureau shall adopt rules for access to documents, pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union

4.   The Bureau shall designate the bodies responsible for the handling of initial applications (Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001) and for the adoption of decisions on confirmatory applications (Article 8 of that Regulation) and on applications for access to sensitive documents (Article 9 of that Regulation).

5.   One of the Vice-Presidents shall be responsible for supervising the handling of applications for access to documents.

6.   The Bureau shall adopt the annual report referred to in Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

7.   Parliament's committee responsible shall regularly examine the transparency of Parliament's activities and shall submit a report with its conclusions and recommendations to the plenary.

The committee responsible may also examine and evaluate the reports adopted by the other institutions and agencies in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

8.   The Conference of Presidents shall designate Parliament's representatives on the interinstitutional committee established pursuant to Article 15(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.