Ombudsman calls for EU access to documents law to be modernised
European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has called for the EU’s access to documents law, which is twenty years old this year, to be updated to reflect the reality of modern communications. Speaking at a conference she is hosting today on the future of Regulation 1049/2001, Ms O’Reilly emphasised the importance of the law for enabling the public to hold the EU account, and called for its modernisation: “This cornerstone of EU transparency comes from a radically different era, predating many modern tools such as smartphones, instant messaging and big data. It needs to catch up with today’s reality while maintaining its core strengths. The law also needs to be aligned more closely with the citizen rights enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty, encourage greater pro-active transparency and take account of important case-law concerning transparent decision making. This is a core issue of good governance. It is about keeping public institutions accountable throughout the entire chain of EU decisio