Article 2 F1
United Kingdom
In the case of documents covered by the exception relating to privacy and the integrity of the individual, as defined in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents f1 and that relating to the commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, as defined in the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001, the exceptions may continue to apply to all or part of a document after the 30-year period if the relevant conditions for their application are satisfied.
Documents covered by the exception relating to privacy and the integrity of the individual, as defined in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, including files of staff of the European Communities, may be disclosed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data f2 , and in particular Articles 4 and 5 thereof.
Before deciding to make available to the public documents which, if disclosed, could undermine the commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, as defined in the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the institution shall inform the person concerned, in accordance with the rules to be defined by each institution, of its intention to make the documents in question accessible to the public. The documents shall not be released if, taking account of the observations of the person concerned, the institution considers that their disclosure would undermine such commercial interests, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.
Sensitive documents within the meaning of Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall be accessible within the limits laid down in that Article.