§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will place in the Library a copy of the rules which provide that working documents of the European Union in relation to draft legislation are the subject of confidentiality and cannot be disclosed for parliamentary scrutiny in member states. [80500]
§ Mr. KilfoyleThe Council works on the basis of proposals for legislation adopted by the Commission and published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Article 5 of Council Decision 93/662/EC of 6 December 1993 setting out the Rules of Procedure of the Council notes that
"deliberations of the Council shall be covered by the obligation of professional secrecy".
This rule is held to apply not only to meetings of the Council itself, but also to preparatory meetings, eg COREPER, and Working Groups. The rules on public access to Council documents are set out in Council Decision 93/731/EC of 20 December 1993 and the Council's Code of Conduct on Public Access (93/730/EC). I have today placed copies of these documents in the Library of the House. The Government are committed to the principle of effective parliamentary scrutiny of European legislation, but decisions on the disclosure of particular documents to facilitate this process are for the individual Departments concerned.