The European Parliament adopted the own-initiative report by Michael CASHMAN (PES, UK) on access to the institutions' texts. The report was drawn up under an infrequently used procedure (Rule 39 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure) enabling Parliament to request the Commission to submit proposals for legislation.
The Parliament requests the Commission to submit to Parliament in 2006 a legislative proposal on 'the right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, and general principles and limits on grounds of public or private interest governing this right of access', a proposal to be prepared in inter-institutional discussions and which should follow the detailed recommendations set out in the summary dated 22/02/2006.
In addition, it confirms that these recommendations respect the principle of subsidiarity, the fundamental rights of citizens, the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, particularly that on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The financial implications of the requested proposal must be covered by the institutions' operating budgets as the rules on transparency are indissociable from those relating to the establishment, adoption and publication of the texts of which they are the authors or which are addressed to them.
Lastly, the European Parliament stresses that any new rules on access to documents should apply as from the date of the entry into force of the prospectively amended Regulation and should, therefore, have no retroactive effect.