Article 3 Definitions

document as defined both by Article 3(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f1 and by Article 1 of the provisions on document management annexed to the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, hereinafter referred to as ‘provisions on document management’;

a data-set input or stored on any type of medium by a computer system or a similar mechanism, which can be read or displayed by a person or by such a system or mechanism, and any display or retrieval of such data in printed or other form;

the process of transforming a document on paper or any other traditional type of medium into an electronic image. Digitisation concerns all types of document and can be carried out from various media such as paper, fax, microforms (microfiche, microfilms), photographs, video or audio cassettes and films;

all the stages or periods in the life of a document from the time it is received or formally drawn up within the meaning of Article 4 of the provisions on document management until its transfer to the Commission’s historical archives and its opening to the public or until its destruction within the meaning of Article 7 of the said provisions;

all documents, files and metadata drawn up, received, recorded, classified and stored by the Commission;

the fact that the information contained in the document and the relevant metadata are complete (all the data are present) and correct (each data item is unchanged);

the fact that the information contained in the documents and the relevant metadata remain easily readable by any person who is required or entitled to have access to them throughout the life cycle of the documents, from their formal establishment or reception until their transfer to the Commission’s historical archives and their opening to the public or until their authorised destruction in accordance with their required storage period;

the data describing the context, contents and structure of documents and their management over time, as determined by the implementing rules for the application of the provisions on document management and to be supplemented by the implementing rules for the application of these provisions;

electronic signature within the meaning of Article 2(1) of Directive 1999/93/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f2;

electronic signature within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Directive 1999/93/EC.