EU Document Registers: Empirical Gaps Limiting the Right of Access to Documents in Europe

This article examines the instrument of document registers as a pivotal medium for ensuring the right of access to EU documents and public accountability. While the general right of access to documents has been extensively analysed, document registers and especially their practice are still under-examined. This article specifically focuses on the registers of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, highlighting two striking gaps. The first gap exists between the strict rules of the Access Regulation and the softer rules of the institutions, the second between what is provided on the abstract level by these rules and the practical level. As shown by an empirical study of the user-friendliness, completeness and proactivity of the registers, their current design and limited content severely limit people’s right of access. In light of these shortcomings, this article recommends different practical approaches to increase the effectiveness of document registers. This would significantly improve the actual implementation of the right of public access to documents, while at the same time reducing the administrative burden on EU public institutions.