The right to access to documents of EU institutions is nowadays considered normal and obvious. Such a right can be used as a parameter to measure the democratic level of an organization. It developed as a response to rising scepticism of further EU integration in the early 1990s. It has been a long and difficult road from the codes of conduct of 1993 on public access to Council and Commission documents to Regulation 1049/2001, and the legislation is far from straightforward and unambiguous in application, as the case law shows. Principles, rules and exceptions make the field as debatable as ever, especially as the “democratic” idea behind the legal framework increasingly struggles to cope with the many “Nos” issued by EU institutions.
Leonor Rossi and Patricia Vinagre e Silva’s book is a fresh and very thorough and well thought out analysis of the topic. The purpose of their book is to assess the robustness of the legal framework on access to documents in the EU. The approach is practical and pragmatic. Indeed, the book is intended to function as a handbook and to remind lawyers “of what applicants (clients) expect of them, of the substantial size of the case-law governing access, and of the more common pitfalls of the procedure” (p. 5). The book does not explore the role of the European Ombudsman and its role as an alternative to litigation before the EU judicature. However, the authors have considered almost every single judgment delivered by the EU courts between 1995 and 2016.
The book is divided into 8 chapters. The first chapters set the stage for the research and outline the evolution of the legal framework. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 focus on applicants, institutions and documents, respectively. Chapters 5 and 6 deal with explicit refusal and silence. Chapter 7 focuses on the different roles that Member States can have and play. The last chapter addresses a crucial topic for lawyers, namely, the litigation phase before the EU judicature.
This book is not just a systematic presentation of cases on the main aspects of Regulation 1049/2001. It is much more. The authors dig into the case law to analyse the meaning of principles, rights and the words of the legislation. In this respect, it is a book that needs to be read with some attention and time. Even if, at first glance, it takes a bit longer to find what you are looking for, the end result is much more beneficial than an ordinary casebook.
In conclusion, the book represents an excellent and the most updated work on the law and practice of access to documents of EU institutions.
Riccardo Sciaudone
Head
Reviewed July 2017