European Ombudsman

CLEERCentre for the Law of EU External Relations

The Influence of International Organizations on the European Union: The EU as an Autonomous Legal

Order?

5 November 2010T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague

Dr Antonios AntoniadisLegal Officer

European Ombudsman

The Principle of Autonomy of the Union legal order

The Court’s perspective• Ex ante control

• Ex post control

• Kadi

• EU Accession to the ECHR

European Ombudsman

The European Ombudsman’s perspective

Mandate:

Article 228 TFEU

A European Ombudsman…shall…receive complaints from any citizen of the Union or any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State concerning instances of maladministration in the activities of the Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies…

European Ombudsman

The European Ombudsman’s perspective

The concept of maladministration

‘Maladministration occurs when a public body fails to act in accordance with a rule or principle which is binding upon it’

• Legality• Principles of good administration (European Code

of Good Administrative Behaviour)• Human rights (EU Charter of Fundamental Rights)

European Ombudsman

Practice

WTO law

Complaint 582/2005/PB • access to documents (EU’s second written submission in

EC – Biotech panel proceedings)• Does WTO dispute settlement constitute ‘court proceedings’

within the meaning of Article 4(2), second indent of Regulation 1049/2001?

• Court’s case law under Article 267 TFEU vs. narrow interpretation of exceptional rules

• Ombudsman: WTO panel proceedings are not court proceedings

European Ombudsman

PracticeWTO law

Complaint 2560/2007/BEH CONF• access to documents (clinical study reports concerning certain

drugs)• Article 3(2)(a) of the EMEA Rules implementing Regulation

1049/2001, which refers to the protection of "commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property“

• Article 39(3) TRIPS “Members… shall protect … [undisclosed test or other] data … against unfair commercial use”

• EMEA: lex specialis• Ombudsman: can be reconciled: private access

European Ombudsman

Practice

Complaints involving ‘conflict of interest’• 1341/2008/MHZ (DG trade officials accepting tickets of

Rugby world cup final)

• 476/2010/ANA (Pat Cox acting as a Special Adviser to Commissioner Kuneva)

• 775/2010/ANA (EFSA secretary of GMO Panel joining Syngenta)

• 1533/2010/KM (Ferrero Waldner joining Munich Re)

• 1682/2010/ANA (Expert Groups advising the Commission: Industry representatives acting in a personal capacity)

European Ombudsman

Practice

Complaints involving ‘conflict of interest’

OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service•Defining the concept

• Actual• Apparent• Potential

•Developing a policy framework

European Ombudsman

Conclusions