1. Visit by the Committee on civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Special Committee for Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering (CRIM) of the European Parliament11 February 2013Eurojust and the Access to documents Catherine Deboyser Head of Legal Service

2. Presentation outline I. The current regime on public access to documents II. The recast of Regulation 1049/2001 III. The Eurojust position on the recast of Regulation 1049/2001 IV. Conclusions

3. I. Current regime on public access to Eurojust documents • Article 10 TEU: principle of transparency and openness. • Article 39 Eurojust Decision :Eurojust to adopt rules for access to Eurojust documents, taking account of the principles and limits stated in Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. • 2004 College Decision on Public Access to Eurojust Documents: • Broad definition of “document” and “case-related document” • Safeguards in Article 4 • Case-by-case analysis.

4. II. Recast of Regulation 1049/2001 State of play of the negotiations: • 30 April 2008: launch of the Commission’s proposal • 15 December 2011: EP adopted 1st reading (co-decision) • DK Presidency: almost consensus reached. Lost “window opportunity” for this EP legislative term? • 12 April 2012: Eurojust’s proposals - Council document

5. III. The Eurojust position on the recast of Regulation 1049/2001

6. III. The Eurojust position on the recast of Regulation 1049/2001 Issues: • Inadequacy of the ergaomnes principle in regard to case-related documents • Eurojust’s core business requires respect for the principles of confidentiality and secrecy of the case –file (“case-related documents”). • Lack of provisions in Regulation 1049/2001 with regard to privileged access to the parties to the proceedings and third parties with legitimate interest • The current legal framework has not proven to be an efficient instrument for the regulation of access to judicial case-file related documents by the parties to the proceedings or third parties having a legitimate interest.

7. III. The Eurojust position on the recast of Regulation 1049/2001 Proposals Specific regime under the Regulation which will replace Regulation 1049/2001. Conceivable regime: mirroring the one applicable to the Court of Justice, which judicial files are except from the scope of the right of access to documents. Fall-back position: Presumption of non-disclosure for case related documents.

8. IV. Conclusions • Trust of the National authorities = main condition for Eurojust to succeed • Right balance to be found between transparency and efficiency in the fight against serious crime. • Main challenges for the upcoming legislative instruments: • Acknowledgement of the judicial nature of Eurojust and presumption of non-disclosure of Eurojust case-related documents.

9. Thank you Catherine Deboyser Head of Legal Service legalservice@eurojust.europa.eu Tel: +31 70 412 5591