Publications Office of the EU: organisation and operation; alignment with the Treaty of Lisbon

PURPOSE: to present a draft Interinstitutional Decision amending Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union.

CONTENT: with this text, it is proposed to revise Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions of 26 June 2009 on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union in order to adapt it to the provisions of the Treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon and, in particular, to add the European Council as a signatory institution.

The main amendments are as follows:

• amendment of the title in order to include the European Council to the list of institutions concerned by the measure;
• definition of the Office’s tasks: it is stipulated that the task of the Publications Office of the European Union, which is an interinstitutional office, shall be to publish the publications of  the institutions of the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community under optimum conditions. In this regard, the institutions may conclude service agreements with the Office in order to define the methods of their cooperation. The European External Action Service may also cooperate with the Office and, for this purpose, conclude a service agreement;
• Management Committee: the proposal states that this new Committee shall be established, within which all the signatory institutions are represented. The Management Committee shall be made up of the Registrar of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Secretaries-General of the other institutions or their representatives. The European Central Bank shall take part in the work of the Management Committee as an observer.