Wobsite's Brigitte Alfter gets support by EU-Ombudsman, who criticises the European Commission for maladministration. The Commission failed to give a thorough explanation, after having denied access to documents the distribution of farmsubsidies. Also he comments on the principal question of access to databases.

 

Two and a half years ago Brigitte Alfter asked the European Commission for access to documents that tell, who receives the EU farmsubsidies. After the Commission’s rejection of the application, the EU’s own watchdog, the European Ombudsman, dealt with the case.

 

The main point of the disagreement between Brigitte Alfter and the Commission was access to information held in a database. The Commission did not give a “valid and thorough explanation” for rejecting access to the information, which is to be considered “a case of maladministration”, he states in his recent answer.

 

The question is of principal character, the ombudsman states. However he choses not to address the question in the current case, instead he refers it to the ongoing reform of the EU's wob regulation, 1049/01.

 

“The most cost-effective approach is to take transparency into account when designing new information systems for management purposes, so that, as far as possible, the same system can meet both the internal requirements of management and the external requirements of transparency,” the ombudsman stated in his comment to the Commission’s greenpaper on the reform earlier in 2007, and he suggests to establish a “general obligation to the institutions to take the needs of transparency into account in the design and operation of databases.”

 

On the basis of the current case the ombudsman now considers contacting the national ombudsmen to gain an overview over best practice in handling access to information held in databases.

 

Se the documents of the case below.

 

 

26.6.2004      1st application (doc, 24 KB) to the EU Commission, DG Agri

28.7.2004      1st answer (doc, 60 KB) by EU Commission, DG Agri

12.8.2004      Confirmatory application (doc, 28 KB) to EU Commission, Secretary General

21.9.2004      Final rejection (pdf, 1.84 MB) by EU Commission, Secretary General

28.4.2005      Complaint (doc, 32 KB) to the EU Ombudsman

13.5.2005      Ombudsman confirmation (pdf, 126 KB) of case

21.10.2005    Commission remarks (pdf, 622 KB) to Ombudsman

30.12.2005    Comments to Ombudsman (doc, 51 KB) about Commission remarks

13.1.2006      Letter to Ombudsman by commissioners Kallas and Fischer Boel (pdf, 23 KB)

18.12.2006    Ombudsman draft for friendly solution (pdf, 1.82 MB)

16.1.2007      Ombudsman information about delay (pdf, 25 KB)

22.3.2007      Commission answer to draft friendly solution (pdf, 287 KB)

10.12.2007    Ombudsman decision (pdf, 1.19 MB)