How to access Commission documents

Public access to documents

To help citizens to obtain access to information and documents about the work of the European Commission and the EU, the European Commission and other EU institutions make a large number of documents available online.

Sources of documents available

European Commission

• Register of Commission documents - main register of Commission documents containing proposals, impact assessments, delegated and implementing acts, other Commission decisions etc.
• Competition cases register - documents related to state aid, merger, anti-trust and cartel cases
• Register of delegated and implementing acts - documents and information related to the whole lifecycle of Commission delegated and implementing acts
• Comitology Register - documents related to the work of the committees in the context of comitology procedures
• Have your say -  Commission laws and policies currently in development (e.g. roadmaps, draft delegated/implementing acts) and for which you can provide your feedback
• Commissioners’ web pages - meetings between Commissioners/their Members of Cabinet and external stakeholders, Commissioners’ mission costs and agendas
• Information about Commission infringement decisions - information about Commission decisions on infringements by EU country, policy area or date
• Economy, finance and the euro publications - economy, finance and the euro publications (institutional papers, reports, economic briefs, discussion papers, technical papers)
• Press Corner - Press material from the Commission Spokesperson's Service
• Publications - Commission planning and strategy documents, factsheets, studies, tender opportunities, statistics, public opinion documents
• Historical archives – documents older than 30 years.

European Parliament

• Parliament's register of documents - main register of Parliament documents, allowing you also to submit requests for access to Parliament documents
• Legislative Observatory- European Parliament's database for monitoring the EU decision-making process
• IPEX - platform for the mutual exchange of information between the national Parliaments and the European Parliament concerning issues related to the EU

Council of the EU/European Council

• Council's register of documents - main register of the Council of the EU/European Council documents, allowing you also to submit requests for access to Council documents
• European Council conclusions - conclusions adopted during each European Council meeting

Interinstituional registers

• EUR-Lex - offers access to EU law, case-law by the Court of Justice of the EU and other public EU documents as well as the authentic electronic Official Journal of the EU
• EU Publications - publications from the EU institutions, agencies and bodies (formerly 'EU Bookshop')
• Transparency Register - a database for organisations that seek to influence the formulation or implementation of policy and the decision-making processes of the EU institutions
• Eurostat publications - Eurostat publications, containing articles and glossaries presenting statistics
• DORIE – database containing a selection of documents or excerpts of documents relating to general institutional issues and to the various intergovernmental conferences that have made changes to the founding EU treaties

Open data

You might also find what you are looking for by consulting the open data portal.

Staff and recruitment documents

Access to EPSO recruitment files or to the personal files of Commission staff is regulated by specific access rights. Applicants wishing to obtain access to their own files in these areas are advised to contact EPSO or DG HR directly.

European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO)

Human Resources and Security

General information

If you're looking for general information about the European Commission, Europe Direct can help you find what you need quickly. 

You can reach Europe Direct by phone, using a toll-free number that works from any EU country: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11. The lines are open between 09:00 and 18:00. 

Email - (reply within 3 working days)

Make a document request

​If you are not able to find the document you are looking for, you can submit a request for access to European Commission documents on the link below.

Request a Commission document

Privacy statement

When can a request be refused?

The Commission has the right to refuse access to documents which, if disclosed, would harm one or several of the public or private interests listed in Regulation 1049/2001.

Please note that some Commission documents may be covered in whole, or in part, by the exceptions to public access defined in the regulation.

According to the Courts, a general presumption of non-disclosure applies for documents relating to

• ongoing EU pilot procedures
• ongoing infringement and audit cases
• state aid cases
• competition cases; documents sent by national competition authorities
• merger cases
• fraud (OLAF) investigations
• court cases
• bids submitted by other tenderers in a procurement procedure
• grant proposals submitted by other candidates
• written questions asked in staff selection procedures