XLSX | 184 kb
This Excel file contains a comprehensive directory of all files related to ClientEarth’s series of access to information requests (AIRs) and confirmatory applications regarding the setting of fishing limits, or Total Allowable Catches (TACs), by the Council of EU fisheries ministers during the annual December Council process, covering the years 2016-2020. The majority of related files have been published elsewhere already following our AIRs, mostly in the Council’s consilium document register or through the asktheeu.org website.
However, some of the relevant documents had so far not been published online, prompting ClientEarth to upload the missing documents into its own document library and putting together this Excel directory of all the files. This file contains key parameters (such as publication date and a summary of the content) for all documents and aims to provide a useful resource for anyone seeking detailed information on the December Council TAC-setting processes from 2016 to 2020. Further background to ClientEarth’s AIRs and the process leading to the final Ombudsman decision is provided below and in this web story.
You can find the document library entries for the missing documents for December Council 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and ClientEarth’s Ombudsman complaint about the lack of transparency of the December Council decision-making process here, here, here, here, here and here.
Background
These AIRs and our advocacy around their findings were geared towards shedding light on this notoriously opaque decision-making process and ultimately improving transparency. This is crucial to ensure civil society can effectively follow and engage in the process and assess the extent to which decisions are in line with science and the law, and to hold fisheries ministers accountable for their decisions. As ClientEarth’s report shows, the Council has been continuously setting TACs above scientifically advised sustainable levels for many years.
Following three years of such AIRs (regarding the December Council processes 2016-2018) to both the Council and the Commission (see section 5 of this report for details), ClientEarth submitted a complaint to the European Ombudsman regarding the lack of transparency of the December Council process. The Ombudsman agreed with our concerns and recommended that "The Council should proactively make public documents related to the adoption of the TAC Regulation at the time they are circulated to Member States or as soon as possible thereafter". Following reactions from ClientEarth and the Council to this conclusion, the Ombudsman confirmed her initial finding of maladministration and reiterated her recommendation. However, the Council refused to accept the Ombudsman’s findings and implement her recommendation.