Dear Mr. G.,
On 22 July 1997, you made a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the European Commission. You alleged that the Commission failed to give you adequate access to Community legislative material.
On 6 October 1997, I forwarded the complaint to the President of the European Commission. The Commission sent its opinion on 9 February 1998. I forwarded it to you with an invitation to make observations, which I received on 23 March 1998.
I am writing now to let you know the results of the inquiries that have been made. I apologise for the length of time it has taken to deal with your complaint.

THE COMPLAINT

On 30 September 1996, the complainant lodged a complaint with the Commission. The complaint was registered by the Commission, but it remained unanswered.
In his complaint to the Commission, the complainant alleged that he was not given systematic access to Community legislative material. He put forward that the Commission's system of providing legal information and documentation is unaccessible and unknown to the ordinary citizen, who has therefore no reasonable access. For instance, access to the Community legal database CELEX is expensive.
Against this background, the complainant lodged the complaint with the European Ombudsman.

THE INQUIRY

The Commission's opinion
In its opinion, the Commission in substance stated the following:
As regards the lack of reply, the Commission apologised for the lack of response to the complaint.
As regards the inadequate access to information of Community legislative material the Commission pointed out that
- All legislation is published in the Official Journal and available on subscription
- The Commission has set up several networks such as European Documentation Centres, Info-Points Europe, Euro-Info Centres and "Carrefours Ruraux", many of which are situated in Austria. In these Centres, access to legislative material is available free of charge.
- The price level of the Institutions' legal database CELEX is largely comparable with market prices for professional systems in most Member States despite the fact that the costs of CELEX, as it is multi-lingual, are higher than for national databases.
- The Court of Justice puts its judgements free of charge on the Internet until they are available on CELEX.
- The Official Journal is put on the Internet free of charge for a minimum 20 day period in order to reinforce the existing information network. This programme of free access to EU legal information will be progressively extended in the course of 1998, and is provisionally called "EU Law".
The complainant's observations
In his observations, the complainant maintained his complaint.

THE DECISION

1. As regards the first grievance, the Commission has apologised for the lack of response to the complainant's questions. The Ombudsman therefore considers that there are no grounds to investigate further into this grievance.
2. As regards the second grievance, the Commission has highlighted a number of different information centres in Austria which could be of help to the complainant. It mentioned in particular the European Documentation Centres, the Info-Points, the Euro-Info Centres and the "Carrefours Ruraux" where citizens can get information on different aspects of Community law. Furthermore, it appears that the cost of access to the Community legal database CELEX is compatible with market prices for professional systems. It appears therefore that the Commission has ensured adequate access to Community legislative material.
On the basis of the European Ombudsman's inquiries into this complaint, there appears to have been no maladministration by the European Commission. The Ombudsman has therefore decided to close the case.
The President of the European Commission will also be informed of this decision.
Yours sincerely
Jacob Söderman