European Ombudsman Jacob Söderman has made a far-reaching recommendation to the European Commission about the balance between the public's right of access to information and the privacy of personal data under the EU Data Protection Directive.
A UK citizen asked the Commission to tell him the names of people who submitted observations to the Commission on a notice of proposed exemption. He also asked the Commission to name the representatives of a trade organisation who attended a meeting which the Commission organised as part of its investigation into the citizen's complaint against the UK. The Commission insisted that, under the EU Data Protection Directive, it must keep the names secret unless the persons concerned agree to their identities being revealed.
In rejecting this argument, the Ombudsman says that the Commission has misunderstood the Directive, which is drafted in a way that takes account of the principle that the European institutions should make decisions as openly as possible and that making information public is a normal part of administration.
The Ombudsman also points out that the purpose of the Directive is to protect fundamental rights and that there is no fundamental right to supply views and information to an administrative body in secret.
The Commission is due to provide a detailed opinion on the draft recommendation by 30 June 2000.
For further information, please call Mr Ian Harden, tel. +32 (0)2 284 2300.

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Notes for editors:

Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (1995 OJ L 281/31) applies in the Member States since October 1998.

By virtue of Article 286 of the EC Treaty (as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam) the Directive also applies to the Community institutions and bodies.

The European Parliament is currently examining a Commission proposal for a Regulation on data protection to apply to the Community institutions and bodies.