EU Ombudsman's decision on the transparency of the Council's decision-making process in setting fishing quotas

The EU Ombudsman found that the Council of the EU committed maladministration by failing to provide timely and proactive access to legislative and environmental documents used to set fishing quotas in the Northeast Atlantic. Despite a recommendation to increase transparency, the Council declined to follow the Ombudsman's advice.

• The EU Ombudsman identified maladministration in the Council's decision-making process for setting total allowable catches (TACs) for 2017, 2018, and 2019, noting that the Council failed to record Member State positions in preparatory bodies and meetings, provided untimely access to documents, and maintained an incomplete document register.
• The Ombudsman classified the documents in question as both 'legislative documents' under EU rules and 'environmental information' under the Aarhus Regulation, concluding that the Council did not prove that disclosure would have seriously hindered the decision-making process.
• The Council of the EU rejected the Ombudsman's recommendation to proactively release documents related to the TAC Regulation when they are circulated to Member States.

APA

ClientEarth (2020). EU Ombudsman's decision on the transparency of the Council's decision-making process in setting fishing quotas. https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/eu-ombudsmans-decision-on-the-transparency-of-the-councils-decision-making-process-in-setting-fishing-quotas/

Chicago

ClientEarth. EU Ombudsman's decision on the transparency of the Council's decision-making process in setting fishing quotas. 2020. https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/eu-ombudsmans-decision-on-the-transparency-of-the-councils-decision-making-process-in-setting-fishing-quotas/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=EU Ombudsman's decision on the transparency of the Council's decision-making process in setting fishing quotas |date=8 October 2020 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/eu-ombudsmans-decision-on-the-transparency-of-the-councils-decision-making-process-in-setting-fishing-quotas/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2020ombudsmans, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{EU Ombudsman's decision on the transparency of the Council's decision-making process in setting fishing quotas}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/latest/documents/eu-ombudsmans-decision-on-the-transparency-of-the-councils-decision-making-process-in-setting-fishing-quotas/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }