Infringement procedure to be made more open

Date: 31/07/1997

By Leyla Linton

CITIZENS who complain to the European Commission about alleged violations of EU law by member states will in future be told in advance if it decides to close cases without taking legal action.

But the Commission has stopped short of promising to explain why it has decided not to proceed with particular infringement cases.

The Commission's pledge to keep complainants better informed takes on board a suggestion made by EU Ombudsman Jacob Söderman, who has expressed his “concern” about the way the Commission handles infringement cases.

In a letter to Commission President Jacques Santer in April, Söderman stressed that the job of the EU Ombudsman was to help ensure that the Union's administration was “accessible” to citizens and warned that they must not be dealt with in “an arrogant and high-handed way”.

He suggested that in cases where the Commission's provisional conclusion was that there had been no breach of EU law, it should make this known to complainants to allow them to make representations before a final decision was taken.

Söderman told Santer that such a policy would contribute to a more effective administration as well as enhancing transparency and relations between European citizens and the Commission.

Lack of transparency was one of the factors which prompted the Ombudsman to launch an inquiry after he received many complaints from private individuals about the Commission's handling of cases of alleged infringements of Union law, particularly those concerning environmental directives.

One of the biggest grounds for complaint was that the Commission never gave any explanation of its reasons for concluding that a member state was not in breach of its obligations under Union law.

In an unsigned letter this week to the Ombudsman's office, responding to his request for more information, the Commission sought to defend itself, saying that it often gave indications as to why it planned to reject complaints.

However, it said it would extend the practice and - except in instances where the complaint was manifestly unjustified - “take care” to tell complainants of plans to close cases.

It also told the Ombudsman that it gave complainants certain guarantees which it was continually trying to improve, stressed that complaints were always acknowledged and that people could bring cases anonymously.

The Commission claimed it was working hard to minimise delays in dealing with complaints, which were often caused by the need to hold lengthy discussions with member states before deciding whether to launch proceedings - discussions which could take “several months, even several years”.

Following the introduction of new internal procedures a year ago, the Commission now aims either to begin infringement proceedings or closed dossiers within a year, apart from exceptional cases. But it did not give any statistics to show whether it was achieving this, either in its letter or its report on the application of EU law in 1996.