Letter Council Secretariat: Justice Acquis withdrawn from A list

Dear Mr Dohle,

On 13 May 2014, we registered your request of 12 May 2014 for access to the following:

"Council document from 1998 on the JHA acquis (JAI 7 ELARG 51) which listed the UN

Convention on the Rights of the Child as being inseparable from the attainment of the

objectives of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty of Amsterdam;

as well as the document(s) that show that the above was approved by Coreper on 3 June 1998

and then went as an “A” item to the Council".

Thank you for your interest.

The General Secretariat of the Council has examined your request on the basis of Regulation

(EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access

to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents1

and specific provisions of the Council's Rules of Procedure2

conclusion:

The General Secretariat has identified document 6473/3/98 REV 3 as corresponding to your

request for access to "Council document from 1998 on the JHA acquis (JAI 7 ELARG 51)".

You may have access to this document.

Relating to your request for access to "document(s) that show that the above was approved by

Coreper on 3 June 1998 and then went as an “A” item to the Council", the General Secretariat

has made a thorough search in its archives and has found out as follows:

According to document 9125/98 which sets out a list of "A" Items submitted to the meeting of

the Council (General Affairs) dated 8-9 June 1998, document 6473/3/98 REV 3 was approved

by Coreper II on 3 June 1998 (see point 14). As regards adoption by the Council, the General

Secretariat has identified document 8865/98 which sets out the draft minutes of the meeting of

the Council (General Affairs) dated 8-9 June 1998). As you can see on page 3 of this document,

the "A" Item relating to the JHA acquis was withdrawn from the list of "A". It was thus not

1

Official Journal L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

2

Annex II to the Council's Rules of Procedure – Council Decision No 2009/937/EU; Official Journal L 325, 11.12.2009, p. 35.

approved as an "A" Item by that Council, nor by any subsequent Council meeting.

You may have access to documents 9125/98 and 8865/98.

The General Secretariat has indeed established that the list of "acquis" of the Union and of its

Member States in the field of Justice and Home Affairs was considered a "living" document,

a document which was constantly evolving as new instruments came along. An adoption by

the Council of a version of that list at a certain moment in time was therefore not considered

necessary. Furthermore, as the list was used in the framework of accession negotiations, it was

deemed more appropriate at that time that the Commission updates the list.

Yours sincerely,

For the General Secretariat

Jakob Thomsen

Enclosures

s