Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 24 June (WA 141), what are the "decision-making processes for making European Union legislation" which are not made public.

Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents sets out exceptions from the duty to provide access. These exceptions include those intended to protect internal deliberative processes where appropriate. For example, Article 4(3) allows documents to be withheld if they relate to a matter where the decision has not been taken by one of the three institutions, if disclosure of the document would seriously undermine the institution's decision-making process, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.

Article 3(4) also allows a document to be withheld if it contains opinions for internal use as part of deliberations and preliminary consultations within one of the three institutions, and if disclosure of the document would seriously undermine the institution's decision-making process, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 also contains exemptions from the duty to release. For example, section 27 allows information to be withheld where its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice international relations. Section 35 allows information to be withheld where it relates to the formulation of government policy. Both of these exemptions are subject to a public interest test.