rec_7

(7) Directive 2003/98/EC does not contain an obligation concerning access to documents or an obligation to allow re-use of documents. The decision whether or not to authorise re-use remains with the Member States or the public sector body concerned. At the same time, Directive 2003/98/EC builds on national rules on access to documents and allowing re-use of documents is therefore not required under that Directive where access is restricted (for example, national rules restrict access to citizens or companies who prove a particular interest in obtaining access to documents) or excluded (for example, national rules exclude access because of the sensitive nature of the documents based, inter alia, on grounds of national security, defence, public security). Some Member States have expressly linked the right of re-use to a right of access, so that all generally accessible documents are re-usable. In other Member States, the link between the two sets of rules is less clear, and this is a source of legal uncertainty.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.