(made in accordance with Art. 3 (7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman)

 

Summary

This Special Report concerns the European Ombudsman's own initiative inquiry into the existence and the public accessibility, in the different Community institutions and bodies, of a Code of good administrative behaviour.

The inquiry was launched in November 1998. In July and September 1999, the Ombudsman made draft recommendations to 18 Community institutions and bodies adopt rules concerning good administrative behaviour for their officials in their relations with the public. For adopting these rules, the Ombudsman stated that the institutions and bodies could take guidance from the provisions contained in the Ombudsman's Code of good administrative behaviour. The Ombudsman stressed that, in order to be efficient and accessible to citizens, the rules should be adopted in the form of a decision and be published in the Official Journal.

From the responses to the draft recommendations, it appears that only two bodies, namely the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union have adopted, respectively on 1 December 1999 and on 10 February 2000, the Code of good administrative behaviour proposed by the Ombudsman. These two agencies have correctly implemented the draft recommendations.

The European Commission presented a draft Code, but has not yet adopted it. Neither the European Parliament nor the Council has adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour. No other institution or, body had adopted a Code by 1 March 2000.

The European Parliament has stressed the urgent need to draw up as soon as possible Codes of good administrative behaviour which should be as identical as possible for all European institutions and bodies.[1] However, only two out of the 18 institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies concerned by the inquiry have implemented the Ombudsman's draft recommendations. The Ombudsman therefore concludes the present Special Report with a recommendation that a European administrative law is needed to ensure that officials of all the Community institutions and bodies observe the same principles of good administrative behaviour in their relations with the public.

Such a law could take the form of a Regulation. The European Parliament, in its capacity as the only European institution democratically representing all European citizens, could consider using the procedure referred to in Article 192 (2) of the EC Treaty in order to initiate the adoption of a European administrative law in this form.

A. The Ombudsman's inquiry and draft recommendation

On 11 November 1998, the European Ombudsman started an own initiative inquiry into the existence and the public accessibility, in the different Community institutions and bodies, of a Code of good administrative behaviour for the officials in their relations with the public.

The Ombudsman hereby submits a Special Report to the European Parliament in accordance with Article 3 (7) of the Statute of the Ombudsman. The Special Report also contains, in accordance with the said provision, a recommendation which the Ombudsman considers appropriate. The Special Report is based on the information received from the Community institutions and bodies by the date of 1 March 2000.

The reasons for the inquiry

One of the reasons for this own initiative inquiry was that during his mandate the Ombudsman received numerous complaints which brought to his attention instances of maladministration by the different Community institutions and bodies. These have been reported in the Ombudsman's annual reports and can also be consulted on the Ombudsman's Website (http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int). The Ombudsman considered that many of these instances of maladministration could have been avoided if clear information had been available, in the form of a Code of good administrative behaviour, about the administrative duties of the Community staff towards the citizens.

The more general reason was that part of the Ombudsman's mission is to enhance relations between the European citizens and the Community institutions and bodies. The creation of the Ombudsman's office was meant to underline the commitment of the Union to democratic, transparent and accountable administration. The Ombudsman should promote good administrative practices by improving the quality of administration.

The Ombudsman therefore observed in his own-initiative inquiry that, in order to improve the quality of the Community administration, Codes of good administrative behaviour could play a valuable role. Such codes would be very helpful for the staff when they have to deal with requests/complaints from citizens. The Code would inform them in a detailed manner of which rules to respect in dealing with the citizens who contact their institution. If the codes are made easily accessible to the public, for instance in the form of a decision published in the Official Journal, they would provide the citizens with information on what are their rights and which standards of good administration they may expect from the Community institutions and bodies.

The European Parliament has welcomed very positively the idea of such a Code for the European institutions and bodies[2] and had stressed "the importance for such a Code to be, for reasons of public accessibility and understanding, as identical as possible for all European institutions and bodies".[3]

The inquiry

On the basis of these considerations, and in accordance with Article 3.1 of his Statute, the Ombudsman started an own initiative inquiry addressed to eighteen Community institutions and bodies (four Community institutions in the sense of Article 4 of the Treaty, four bodies established by the Treaty, and ten "decentralised Community agencies")[4]. The inquiry had the following subject:

Firstly, the Ombudsman asked each institution or body if it had adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour for its officials in their relations with the public, which is easily accessible to the citizens. If such a Code did not exist, the Ombudsman asked if the institution or body would agree to take the necessary steps in order to adopt a Code of Conduct. As to the contents of this Code, the Ombudsman observed that it could include, in a list of provisions, general applicable rules on the substantive and procedural principles which were set out in the annex to his letter of 11 November 1998.

Secondly, considering that such a code would be most effective if it is a publicly accessible document containing precise provisions, the Ombudsman equally asked the institution or body if it could indicate in which form it would adopt the Code.

The Ombudsman asked the different institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies to inform him about their respective situations as regards a Code of good administrative behaviour by the end of February 1999.

The initial responses from the institutions and bodies

From the information supplied by the different Community institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies, it appeared that none of them had adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour as envisaged by the Ombudsman.[5]

In March 1999, the Commission had elaborated a draft Code of Conduct for staff of the European Commission, section 5 of which dealt with the relations of the Commission officials with the public. The Ombudsman was however informed that this Code had not yet been adopted and that in the given circumstances (linked to the Commission resignation) no formal follow-up to the draft Code was possible.

The Parliament, the Council, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Central Bank agreed to but had not yet adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour for their officials in their relations with the public.

On the other hand, the European Investment Bank had already in April 1997 adopted a detailed Code of Conduct applicable at the EIB. However, it appeared that this Code, which was complementary to the Staff Regulations, mainly concerned the relations of the staff of the EIB with the institution itself.

It further appeared that nine of the ten decentralised agencies agreed to take the necessary steps in order to adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour, but were still waiting for the Commission's Code to be definitively approved in order to adopt, in a concerted manner, similar Codes.

Finally, from its reply it appeared that the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market already complied with most of the substantial and procedural principles contained in the Ombudsman's proposal for a Code of good administrative behaviour. However, those guarantees did not concern all relations with the citizens, but were limited to the Community trademark procedure.

The draft recommendations

Given the situation described above, the Ombudsman considered it necessary to make draft recommendations to the institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies. The reasons for the draft recommendations were the following:

The Amsterdam Treaty explicitly introduced the concept of openness into the Treaty on European Union, by stating that "This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the people of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen" (Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union). A Code which contains the basic principles of good administrative behaviour for officials when dealing with the public is needed both in order to bring the administration closer to the citizens and to guarantee a better quality of administration, thus helping to prevent instances of maladministration from arising. Such a Code is useful for both the Community officials, as it informs them in a detailed manner of the rules they have to follow when dealing with the public, and the citizens, as it can provide them with information on which principles apply in the Community administration and on the standard of conduct which they are entitled to expect in dealings with the Community administration.

The Ombudsman considered that a Code of good administrative behaviour could only be efficient if it is a publicly accessible document for the citizens. Therefore it is appropriate that it is published in the form of a decision, as is the case for the Code of Conduct concerning public access to Commission documents, contained in the Commission decision (94/90/ECSC, EC, Euratom) of 8 February 1994[6]. The Ombudsman also noted that, in order to be understandable and not confusing for the public, such a Code should be a single document which contains rules exclusively on the relations of the officials with the public, and not on the relations of the officials with their institution (rights and obligations, explanation of provisions of the Staff Regulations), as in the draft Code of Conduct for staff of the European Commission of March 1999.

The Ombudsman further noted that, in its Resolutions on the annual reports of the European Ombudsman for 1997 and 1998[7], the European Parliament stressed the urgent need to draw up as soon as possible a Code of good administrative behaviour, and the importance for such a Code to be, for reasons of public accessibility and understanding, as identical as possible for all European institutions and bodies. The Parliament equally indicated that such a Code should be accessible to all European citizens, and be published in the Official Journal.

Finally, on the basis of the information supplied to the Ombudsman by the different Community institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies, it appeared that none of them had adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour as proposed by the Ombudsman

The Ombudsman concluded that during his mandate various instances of maladministration by the different Community institutions and bodies have been found. One of the reasons for these instances of maladministration was that at the moment clear rules did not exist on the principles of good administrative behaviour which the Community officials should respect in their relations with the public. The Ombudsman therefore considered that, in order to prevent that similar instances of maladministration recur in the future, the Community institutions and bodies should adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour for their officials in their relations with the public.

On the basis of these considerations, the European Ombudsman made, in accordance with Article 3 (6) of the Statute of the Ombudsman, the following draft recommendations to the different Community institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies:

1. The institution should adopt rules concerning good administrative behaviour of its officials in their relations with the public. For adopting these rules, the institution might take guidance from the provisions contained in the annexed Code of good administrative behaviour.
2. In order to ensure that they can be easily understood by citizens, the rules should deal only with the relations of the officials with the public. If the institution also intends to adopt rules concerning the relations of officials with the institution, it could do so in a separate, publicly available, document.
3. In order to be efficient and accessible to the citizens, the rules should be adopted in the form of a decision and be published in the Official Journal.

The Ombudsman annexed to his draft recommendations a draft Code of good administrative behaviour. This Code contained, in a list of 28 Articles, provisions on both substantive and procedural principles, as well as provisions on the good functioning of the administration. As set out above, the institutions were asked to take guidance from the Code proposed by the Ombudsman.

The draft recommendations were made to the Commission on 28 July 1999, and to the Parliament and the Council on 29 July 1999. The three institutions were requested to send their detailed opinion by no later than 30 November 1999. The draft recommendations to the other institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies were made on 13 September 1999 with the request to send their detailed opinion by no later than 31 December 1999.

B. Responses to the Ombudsman's draft recommendation

The Commission's response

The Commission informed the Ombudsman on 29 November 1999 that, on 24 November 1999, the Commission college approved in a first reading a draft Commission decision supplementing its Rules of Procedure with a Code of Good Administrative Behaviour. The President of the Commission indicated that the Code, which deals exclusively with the relations between Commission departments and the public, will be adopted through a legally binding Commission Decision to be published in the Official Journal. He also indicated that, although there were some differences between the Ombudsman's recommendations and the Commission's draft Code, the main features of the Ombudsman's proposal had been taken fully in account. The Commission indicated that, after the consultation of the Commission's staff representatives, and the drawing up of proposals for accompanying measures such as training of staff, the Code should be finalised by the College at a second reading early 2000.

The presentation of the Commission's draft Code was the following: The Code of good administrative behaviour is annexed to a draft Commission Decision. Article 1 of this draft Decision provides that the following paragraph shall be added to Article 23 of the Rules of Procedure : "The Commission shall adopt, where necessary, supplementary measures relating to the functioning of the Commission and of its departments, which shall be annexed to the present Regulation". Article 2 provides that the annexe to the Code shall be annexed to the Rules of Procedure.

The annexed Code indicates first what quality service is, and describes the purpose and the scope of the Code. The Code is divided in 6 sections, namely 1) general principles of good administration (lawfulness, non-discrimination, proportionality, consistency, 2) guidelines for good administrative behaviour (objectivity and impartiality, information on administrative procedures, listening to all parties with a direct interest), 3) information on the rights of interested parties (duty to justify decisions, duty to state arrangements for appeals), 4) dealing with enquiries (requests for documents, correspondence, telephones and electronic communication, requests from the media), 5) protection of personal data and confidential information, 6) complaints (the European Commission, the European Ombudsman).

Since the Commission's letter of 29 November 1999, the Ombudsman received no new information as regards the follow-up of the Commission's draft Code.

The European Parliament's and the Council's responses

The European Parliament informed the Ombudsman on 10 December 1999 that a draft Code would be submitted for approval to the Bureau of the Parliament in December 1999. However, up to 1 March 2000 no further information has been received from the European Parliament.

The Council informed the Ombudsman on 29 November 1999 that a Council decision on the matter was in preparation, and that the draft Code would largely be inspired by the last section ("Serving the public") of the Commission's draft Code of March 1999. No new information has been received up to 1 March 2000.

The responses from the other Community institutions and bodies

The Court of Auditors informed the Ombudsman on 20 January 2000 that in its meeting of 26 and 27 January 2000 it would decide on a draft text and send the adopted text to the Ombudsman. However, no further information has been received since that date.

The Economic and Social Committee informed the Ombudsman on 26 January 2000 that it had not yet adopted a Code of good administrative behaviour, but was waiting to be seized on the matter by the Commission. The Committee however sent a six page note containing a detailed opinion, prepared by its Human Resources and Financial Directorate, on the text of the Code proposed by the European Ombudsman. This note states that the Code should not be in contradiction with the Staff Regulations, and that the implementation of the Code might have financial and human resources implications which need to be examined first.

The Committee of the Regions informed the Ombudsman on 26 January 2000 that it wished to continue to reflect on the matter in the framework of inter-institutional co-operation. The Committee of the Regions referred to the Commission's draft Code and insisted on the importance that all European institutions and bodies should adopt a unique and identical text.

The European Investment Bank informed the Ombudsman on 13 December 1999 that it would adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour as requested by the Ombudsman (i.e. one single document, publication in the Official Journal), but that it would take some time to complete it, given especially the specificity of the Bank's activity as a financial institution. No further information has been received since then.

The European Central Bank informed the Ombudsman on 27 January 2000 that a draft ECB Code had been prepared. This Code would not only serve as a reference for the public with regard to the standard of conduct they are entitled to expect when dealing with the ECB, but also give guidance in matters of professional ethics to all persons employed by the ECB. The Code will be published in the Official Journal. Once the consultation with the ECB staff representatives completed, the Code would be sent to the Ombudsman.

The decentralised agencies

On behalf of all the decentralised agencies, the Director of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) informed the Ombudsman on 15 November 1999 that the directors of the agencies were awaiting the outcome of the Commission's draft Code.

Later, on 15 December 1999, Cedefop informed the Ombudsman that it would finally adopt the Ombudsman's proposed Code before the deadline of 31 December 1999, in the form of a Management Board decision. Cedefop indicated that, given that the developments on the Commission's draft Code were not as positive and forthcoming as expected, the directors considered that it would only be appropriate at this stage to adopt the Code of Conduct as the Ombudsman has proposed it, while maintaining the right to adopt additionally a more complete Code when finalised by the Commission, if it would still fit with the characteristics of a medium-sized decentralised agency. Cedefop also observed that, to the extent that full implementation of detailed provisions, as for instance Article 13 concerning the reply in the language of the citizen, cannot by all objective means be guaranteed at any time, it would do its utmost to satisfy the public's legitimate expectations and respect the obligations undertaken by the adoption of the Code.

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions informed the Ombudsman on 21 December 1999 that it would adopt a Code on basis of the Code established by the Ombudsman. A proposal for adoption of such a Code would be submitted to the Bureau of the Foundation's Administrative Board at its meeting of 11 February 2000.

The European Environment Agency informed the Ombudsman on 14 December 1999 that it had decided to adopt a draft Code based on the European Ombudsman's proposal. The Agency sent a copy of the draft Code to the Ombudsman. The text of this Code, which contains 28 Articles, is equal to the Ombudsman's proposal.

On 7 December 1999, the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) informed the Ombudsman that the EMEA Management Board formally adopted the Ombudsman's proposed Code at its meeting of 1 December 1999. Moreover, the Code, which is equal to the Ombudsman's proposal, entered into force on 1 January 2000 (Article 28 of the Code). The Code is released on the EMEA's website.

The Office for harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) informed the Ombudsman on 16 December 1999 that it would adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour, once the final Commission's Code will have been adopted.

The European Training Foundation informed the Ombudsman on 25 January 2000 that it had decided to adopt the Commission's text with some slight modifications, and that it would formally adopt this Code once the Commission's Code is definitively adopted. The Foundation made the same remark as Cedefop with regard to replying to correspondence from the public in the language of the writer.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction informed the Ombudsman on 13 December 1999 that it was largely in favour to follow the Ombudsman's proposed Code, and that it would be able to adopt its own Code by February 2000. The Centre made the same remark with regard to replying to correspondence in the language of the writer.

The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union informed the Ombudsman on 17 December 1999 that it had drafted a Code of good administrative behaviour based on the Ombudsman's proposal. Later, on 24 February 2000, the Translation Centre informed the Ombudsman that the definitive version of the Code had formally been adopted in the form of a decision on 10 February 2000. The Code, which is equal to the Ombudsman's proposal, will enter into force on 31 March 2000 (Article 28 of the Code). The Code is released on the Translation Centre's website.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work informed the Ombudsman on 22 December 1999 that it would adopt the Ombudsman's proposed Code of good administrative behaviour before the deadline of 31 December 1999. The decision would be signed by the Chairman of the Administrative Board. The Agency equally referred to the difficulty to guarantee the implementation of Article 13 of the Code.

The President of the Community Plant Variety Office informed the Ombudsman on 21 December 1999 that, given that the Commission's Code was only at the consultation phase, he would ask the Administrative Council to adopt in April 2000 the Ombudsman's proposed Code. The Office enclosed a copy of the drafted text of the Code, which is equal to the Ombudsman's proposal.

C. Analysis of the responses to the draft recommendations

From the responses it appears that all the Community institutions and bodies welcomed positively the draft recommendations and were prepared to adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour for their officials in their relations with the public.

However, as regards the concrete adoption of a Code of good administrative behaviour and the follow up of the three draft recommendations (i.e. 1) a Code inspired on the Ombudsman's proposal, which 2) deals exclusively with the relations with the public, and which 3) is adopted in the form of a decision published in the Official Journal), the responses from the institutions and bodies were patchy.

The Commission

Amongst the institutions, only the Commission approved, in a first reading, a draft Code of good administrative behaviour. As regards the presentation and the content of the Commission's draft Code, the Ombudsman wants to make the following observations:

Firstly, the draft Code itself is not adopted in the form of a Commission decision, but only as an annex to a Commission decision, Article 1 of which merely provides that "The Commission shall adopt, where necessary, supplementary measures relating to the functioning of the Commission and of its departments, which shall be annexed to the present Regulation".

Secondly, it appears that the text of the Commission's draft Code of good administrative behaviour is rather one of a non-binding guideline, than of a binding decision. This appears for instance from the introductory section of the Code which states the purpose of the Code is "intended to guide" European Commission staff in their relations with the public. This appears equally from the first point "General principles of good administration", which states that the Commission "expects its staff to respect" the following principles in their relations with the public. The non-binding character of the draft Code finally also appears from its second section "Guidelines for good administrative behaviour" and from the "Requests for documents"-section which is drafted in a very descriptive way.

On basis of these remarks, the Ombudsman considers that, if this draft Code would be definitively adopted, the first and third recommendations would not have been followed by the Commission.

The European Parliament and the Council

From the information received, it appears that neither the Parliament nor the Council has yet adopted a Code in the form proposed in the Ombudsman's recommendation. The Ombudsman neither received a draft Code from them. Therefore the Ombudsman considers that neither the Parliament nor the Council has implemented the draft recommendations up to 1 March 2000.

The other Community institutions and bodies

The draft recommendations have not been implemented yet by the Court of Auditors and the four Community bodies (the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank, the European Central Bank). The Ombudsman has neither received a draft Code from these institutions and bodies. Both Committees seemed to wait for the Commission's draft Code to be adopted, before adopting their respective Codes.

The decentralised agencies

As regards the ten decentralised agencies, the Ombudsman first notes that on 1 December 1999 and 10 February 2000 respectively, the EMEA and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union formally adopted in the form of a decision the Code of good administrative behaviour proposed by the Ombudsman. Both Codes, which contain 28 Articles and are equal to the Ombudsman's proposal, entered respectively will enter into force on 1 January 2000 and 31 March 2000. The Codes are published for public consultation on the respective Websites. Therefore the Ombudsman considers that both the EMEA and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union have correctly implemented the draft recommendations, with the exception however of the publication in the Official Journal.

Two other decentralised agencies, namely the European Environment Agency and the Plant Variety Office have equally drafted, and will shortly adopt a Code of good administrative behaviour which comprises 28 Articles and is equal to the Ombudsman's proposal. The President of the Plant Variety Office indicated that he would ask the Administrative Council of the Office to adopt the Code in its meeting of April 2000. Given the identity between these two draft Codes and the Ombudsman's proposal, the Ombudsman considers that, once definitively adopted and published in the Official Journal, these Codes would correctly and fully implement the draft recommendations.

The other six decentralised agencies have not yet implemented the draft recommendations. However, four of them, namely Cedefop, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work indicated that they would adopt the Code of good administrative behaviour as proposed by the Ombudsman in his draft recommendations. However, the Ombudsman has received no information on the recent follow-up of the Code by those agencies.

Two other decentralised agencies, namely the Office for harmonisation in the Internal Market and the European Training Foundation informed the Ombudsman that they would adopt a Code once the Commission's Code would be finally adopted.

D. Conclusions and recommendation

1. In its resolutions on the annual reports on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1997 and 1998, the European Parliament stressed the urgent need to draw up as soon as possible a Code of good administrative behaviour, and the importance for such a Code to be, for reasons of public accessibility and understanding, as identical as possible for all European institutions and bodies.[8]
2. The Ombudsman notes that, over the last two decades, many Member States have adopted laws governing their administrations. In the Ombudsman's view, the administrative behaviour of the Community institutions and bodies should, as far as possible, be consistent with the best standards applicable to the administrations of Member States. The Ombudsman's Code of good administrative behaviour therefore draws inspiration from the existing administrative laws of the Member States and from international organisations.[9]
3. The Ombudsman made draft recommendations to the various Community institutions and bodies to adopt a Code of Good Administrative Behaviour. By 1 March 2000, of the 18 institutions and bodies to which the draft recommendations were made, only two, namely the EMEA and the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, had informed the Ombudsman that they had formally adopted a Code in the form proposed by the Ombudsman. Some other decentralised agencies seemed also to be close to adopting the Ombudsman's proposal. Other institutions and bodies have presented draft codes, but their form and content is variable.
4. The Ombudsman therefore concludes that it is necessary to consider a different way to achieve rules of good administrative behaviour which apply equally to all Community institutions and bodies in their relations with the public.
5. In the Ombudsman's view, the most effective solution would be to enact such rules in the form of a European administrative law.
6. The Ombudsman therefore recommends the enactment of a European administrative law, applicable to all the Community institutions and bodies. This law could take the form of a Regulation.
7. The European Parliament, in its capacity as the only European institution democratically representing all European citizens, has the possibility to take the initiative for the adoption of such a European administrative law, by using the procedure established by Article 192 (2) of the EC Treaty.
8. Article 192 (2) of the EC Treaty provides that "the European Parliament may, acting by a majority of its Members, request the Commission to submit any appropriate proposal on matters on which it considers that a Community act is required for the purpose of implementing this Treaty". The Parliament could consider using this procedure to suggest to the Commission a proposal for a European administrative law in the form of a Regulation binding on all the institutions and bodies. The substance of this law could be based on the Ombudsman's Code of good administrative behaviour, which has already been adopted by two decentralised agencies.
9. The legal basis for a Regulation establishing a European administrative law could be Article 308 of the EC Treaty which provides that "if action by the Community should prove necessary to attain, in the course of the operation of the common market, one of the objectives of the Community and this Treaty has not provided the necessary powers, the Council shall, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, take the appropriate measures".

On the basis of the above considerations, and in accordance with Article 3 (7) of the Statute of the European Ombudsman, the Ombudsman makes the following recommendation to the Parliament:

In order to achieve rules of good administrative behaviour which apply equally to all Community institutions and bodies in their relations with the public, the Ombudsman recommends the enactment of a European administrative law, applicable to all the Community institutions and bodies. This law could take the form of a Regulation.

Strasbourg, April 2000

Jacob SÖDERMAN

 

---

 

[1] Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1998 (C-0138/99), OJ 1999 C 219/456.

[2] See the Resolution of 16 July 1998 on the Annual Report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1997 (C4-0270/98).

[3] Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1998 (C-0138/99), OJ 1999 C 219/456.

[4] The European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the European Investment Bank, the European Central Bank, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), the European Foundation for the improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the European Environment Agency, the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA), the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, the European Training Foundation, the European Drugs and Drug Addiction Monitoring Centre, the Translation Centre for bodies of the European Union, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, and the Community Plant Variety Office.

[5] The detailed responses from the Commission, the Parliament and the Council, as well as from the other institutions, bodies and decentralised agencies are described in the decision of the European Ombudsman of 13 September 1999 containing the draft recommendations.

[6] OJ 1994 L 46/58.

[7] Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1997 (C-0270/98), OJ 1998 C 292/168, Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1998 (C-0138/99), OJ 1999 C 219/456.

[8] Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1997 (C-0270/98), OJ 1998 C 292/168, Resolution on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 1998 (C-0138/99), OJ 1999 C 219/456.

[9] Important examples of such administrative laws in the Member States are: the Portuguese Administrative Procedure Code - Decree-Law 442/91 of 15 November 1991 (including provisions on, amongst others, the right to be heard before a decision is taken, the notification of the decision, the indication of the possibilities of appeal), the Italian Law of 7 August 1990 n° 241/90, New rules in the field of administrative procedure and the right of access to administrative documents (including provisions on, amongst others, the indication of the official responsible for the administrative procedure, the hearing or parties and the giving of grounds for decisions), the Spanish Law of 6 November 1992 on the legal system of the public administrations and the common administrative procedure, the Danish Public Administration Act n° 571 of 19 December 1985 (including provisions on, amongst others, the hearing of parties and the right to make statements, the giving of grounds for decisions, guidance on appeal), the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act n° 598 of 6 August 1982 (including provisions on, amongst others, the hearing of parties, the giving of grounds for decisions, the transfer of a matter to the competent authority), the Swedish Administrative Act (1986:223) of 7 May 1986 (including provisions on, amongst others, the obligation to reply to questions of citizens, the obligation to inform the citizens of the appropriate institution, the hearing of parties and the right to make statements, the giving of grounds for decisions and the indication of the possibilities of appeal), the Austrian General Law on Administrative Procedures of 31 January 1991 (amended in 1995, BGBl 1991 idFIN BGBl 1995/471), the German Law on administrative procedures of 25 May 1976 (BGBl. I page 1253), the Greek Law 2690 of 9 March 1999 on a Code of Administrative Procedure and other provisions, the Belgian Law on the formal motivation of administrative acts of 29 July 1991, the Dutch General Administrative Law Act of 4 June 1992, the Luxemburgish Law of 1 December 1978 on the non-contentious procedure and the Grand-ducal Regulation of 8 June 1979 on the procedure to be followed by the administrations of the State and the municipalities (including provisions on, amongst others, the motivation of the decision, the indication of the possibilities of appeal), and the French draft law n° 153 (1998-1999) on the rights of the citizens in their relations with the administrations (which went through a second reading in the Assemblée Nationale; this draft law includes provisions on, amongst others, information on the official dealing with the file of the citizen, the acknowledgement of receipt, the transfer of a matter to the competent authority and the notification thereof to the citizen, the possibility to present written and oral observations before a decision is taken). The Ombudsman would equally like to refer to Irish Ombudsman's Guide to Standards of Best Practice for Public Servants (1996) which is an administrative ethics checklist, the Citizen's Charter in the UK and the Belgian Charter of the users of public services of 4 December 1992. As regards other international organisations, the Ombudsman refers to the Recommendation of 23 April 1998 of the Council of the OECD on improving ethical conduct in the public service, as well as to "The administration and you", a handbook edited by the Council of Europe which sets out the basic principles of substantive administrative law and administrative procedure which are considered to be of primary importance for the protection of private persons in their relations with the administrative authorities, and which contains also references to the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as examples of implementation of the principles in Council of Europe Member States (Council of Europe Publishing, 1996).