The European Ombudsman, Jacob Söderman, hailed today's Parliamentary resolution
on his special report in the Bavarian Lager case as a "victory for openness".
Adopting the report by Jean Lambert, MEPs called on the Commission to
give out information requested by an EU citizen on a complaint he had filed
with it. The Commission has so far refused.
Mr Andrew Ronnan requested the names of persons invited by the Commission to
a meeting to give their opinions and advice on his complaint. Mr. Ronnan was
not allowed to attend the meeting. He also asked for the names of persons who
made written submissions to the Commission about his complaint. The Commission
insisted that, under the Data Protection Directive, it must keep the names secret
unless the persons concerned agree to their identities being revealed.
Rejecting this argument as an abuse of the Directive, MEPs have now called on
the Commission to inform Mr Ronnan of the names. To ensure that concerns about
data protection are not abused, they also recommend that model codes of conduct
should be drawn up.
Welcoming the EP resolution, Mr. Söderman said: "The EU institutions
should take decisions as openly as possible. The Commission has wrongly tried
to use the Data Protection Directive to keep secret information about how it
discharges its responsibilities as Guardian of the Treaty. I hope that the Commission
will stop trying to distort the purpose of data protection rules so as to use
them as a cloak of secrecy for its own activities."
Given the clear support shown by MEPs in today's vote, the Commission should
delay no further in giving the information to Mr. Ronnan.
Background
Mr Ronnan complained to the Commission on behalf of the Bavarian Lager Company
about restrictive UK laws on beer purchases. He turned to the Ombudsman after
he was refused information relating to the Commission's investigation of his
complaint. The Ombudsman presented a special report on the case in November
2000 calling on the Parliament to intervene after the Commission refused to
back down.
NOTES/
Jean's report on access to information which she drew up on behalf of the Petitions Committee was adopted in Parliament. The report is considered crucial in order to counter attempts by the decision-making institutions (Council and Commission) to abuse data protection by claiming confidentiality. It was referred to the European Parliament by the European Ombudsman who called on Parliament to intervene after the Commission refused to give out some information which he deemed non-confidential. MEPs are now calling on the Commission to give out the information in question.