Access to Documents

DG TRADE and the Tobacco Lobby: When Transparency Becomes a Compliance Test

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The European Ombudswoman’s inquiry into DG TRADE’s contacts with tobacco-industry representatives creates a test that goes beyond meeting disclosure. The central question is whether the Commission can reconstruct why contacts were necessary, what followed them, and whether corrective measures adopted after an earlier maladministration finding worked in practice.

Strategic Project, Restricted Document: How the Jadar File Became Partly Public

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Executive summary A requester sought public access to a letter by which the Serbian authorities supported the designation of the Jadar lithium-mining project as a strategic project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. The European Commission initially refused access, arguing that disclosure could undermine international relations with Serbia. After the requester submitted a confirmatory … Read more