Article 5 Consultations
United Kingdom
Where the Agency receives an application for access to a document which it holds but which originates from a third party, the Agency shall check whether one of the exceptions provided for under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies.
If, after that examination, the Agency considers that access to it must be refused under one of the exceptions provided for by Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the negative answer shall be sent to the applicant without consultation of the third-party author.
The Agency shall grant the application without consulting the third-party author where:
the document requested has already been disclosed either by its author or under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 or similar provisions;
it is obvious that the disclosure, or partial disclosure, of its contents would not affect one of the interests referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
In all other cases, the third-party author shall be consulted. In particular, if an application for access concerns a document originating from a Member State, the Agency shall consult the originating authority where:
the document was forwarded to the Agency before the date from which Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies;
the Member State has requested the Agency not to disclose the document without its prior agreement, in accordance with Article 4(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
The third party consulted shall have a deadline for reply which shall be no shorter than five working days but must allow the Agency to abide by its own deadlines for reply. In the absence of an answer within the prescribed period, or if the third party is untraceable or not identifiable, the Agency shall decide in accordance with the rules on exceptions in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, taking into account the legitimate interests of the third party on the basis of the information at its disposal.
If the Agency intends to give access to a document against the explicit opinion of the author, it shall inform the author of its intention to disclose the document after a ten-working day period and shall draw his/her attention to the remedies available to him/her to oppose disclosure.