eu-charter

EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Article 41 - Right to good administration

Article 41 - Right to good administration

1. Every person has the right to have his or her affairs handled impartially, fairly and within a reasonable time by the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union.
2. This right includes:
(a) the right of every person to be heard, before any individual measure which would affect him or her adversely is taken;
(b) the right of every person to have access to his or her file, while respecting the legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy;
(c) the obligation of the administration to give reasons for its decisions.
3. Every person has the right to have the Union make good any damage caused by its institutions or by its servants in the performance of their duties, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States.4. Every person may write to the institutions of the Union in one of the languages of the Treaties and must have an answer in the same language.

    • Text:

      Article 41 is based on the existence of the Union as subject to the rule of law whose characteristics were developed in the case-law which enshrined inter alia good administration as a general principle of law (see inter alia Court of Justice judgment of 31 March 1992 in Case C-255/90 P Burban [1992] ECR I-2253, and Court of First Instance judgments of 18 September 1995 in Case T-167/94 Nölle [1995] ECR II-2589, and 9 July 1999 in Case T-231/97 New Europe Consulting and others [1999] ECR II-2403). The wording for that right in the first two paragraphs results from the case-law (Court of Justice judgment of 15 October 1987 in Case 222/86 Heylens [1987] ECR 4097, paragraph 15 of the grounds, judgment of 18 October 1989 in Case 374/87 Orkem [1989] ECR 3283, judgment of 21 November 1991 in Case C-269/90 TU München [1991] ECR I-5469, and Court of First Instance judgments of 6 December 1994 in Case T-450/93 Lisrestal [1994] ECR II-1177, 18 September 1995 in Case T-167/94 Nölle [1995] ECR II-2589) and the wording regarding the obligation to give reasons comes from Article 296 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (cf. also the legal base in Article 298 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union for the adoption of legislation in the interest of an open, efficient and independent European administration).

      Paragraph 3 reproduces the right now guaranteed by Article 340 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
      Paragraph 4 reproduces the right now guaranteed by Article 20(2)(d) and Article 25 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In accordance with Article 52(2) of the Charter, those rights are to be applied under the conditions and within the limits defined by the Treaties.

      The right to an effective remedy, which is an important aspect of this question, is guaranteed in Article 47 of this Charter.

      Source:
      Official Journal of the European Union C 303/17 - 14.12.2007
      Preamble - Explanations relating to the Charter of Fundamental Rights:
      These explanations were originally prepared under the authority of the Praesidium of the Convention which drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Although they do not as such have the status of law, they are a valuable tool of interpretation intended to clarify the provisions of the Charter.

    29 results found

    • Constitution of the Republic of Estonia
      Country:
      Estonia

      Article 14. It is the duty of the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and of local authorities, to guarantee the rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution.
      Article 44. (…) Pursuant to a procedure provided by law, all government agencies, local authorities, and their officials have a duty to provide information about their activities to any citizen of Estonia at his or her request, except for information whose disclosure is prohibited by law and information intended exclusively for internal use.
      Pursuant to a procedure provided by law, any citizen of Estonia is entitled to access information about himself or herself held by government agencies and local authorities and in government and local authority archives. This right may be circumscribed pursuant to law to protect the rights and freedoms of others, to protect the confidentiality of a child’s filiation, and in the interests of preventing a criminal offence, apprehending the offender, or of ascertaining the truth in a criminal case.
      Unless otherwise provided by law, citizens of foreign states and stateless persons in Estonia enjoy the rights specified in paragraphs two and three of this section equally with citizens of Estonia.
      Article 46. Everyone has the right to address informational letters and petitions to government agencies, local authorities, and their officials. The procedure for responding to such letters and petitions is provided by law.

    • The Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus
      Country:
      Cyprus

      Article 29
      1. Every person has the right individually or jointly with others to address written requests or complaints to any competent public authority and to have them attended to and decided expeditiously; an immediate notice of any such decision taken duly reasoned shall be given to the person making the request or complaint and in any event within a period not exceeding thirty days.
      2. Where any interested person is aggrieved by any such decision or where no such decision is notified to such person within the period specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, such person may have recourse to a competent court in the matter of such request or complaint.

    • Tο Σύνταγμα της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας
      Country:
      Cyprus

      ΑΡΘΡΟΝ 29
      1. Έκαστος έχει το δικαίωμα ατομικώς ή ομού μετ’ άλλων να υποβάλλη εγγράφους αιτήσεις ή παράπονα προς οιανδήποτε αρμοδίαν δημοσίαν αρχήν δικαιούμενος ν’ απαιτήση, όπως αύτη επιληφθή αυτών και αποφασίση ταχέως. Η απόφασις της αρχής ταύτης, δεόντως ητιολογημένη, γνωστοποιείται εγγράφως αμέσως εις τον υποβαλόντα την αίτησιν ή τα παράπονα εν πάση περιπτώσει ενός προθεσμίας μη υπερβαινούσης τας τριάκοντα ημέρας.
      2. Εφ’ όσον ο ενδιαφερόμενος δεν ικανοποιείται εκ της αποφάσεως ή οσάκις ουδεμία απόφασις γνωστοποιήται προς αυτόν εντός της καθοριζομένης εν τη πρώτη παραγράφω του παρόντος άρθρου προθεσμίας δύναται ο ενδιαφερόμενος ν’ αγάγη ενώπιον αρμοδίου δικαστηρίου διά προσφυγής την υπόθεσιν, εις ην αφορά η αίτησις ή το παράπονον αυτού.

    • Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
      Country:
      Croatia

      Article 46
      Everyone shall be entitled to file petitions and complaints and to submit proposals to
      governmental and other public bodies, and to receive responses thereto.

      Article 93
      (2)Everyone may lodge a complaint to the Ombudsperson if he/she deems that his/her
      constitutional or legal rights have been threatened or violated as a result of any illegal or irregular act by governmental bodies and the civil service, local and regional selfgovernmental bodies and bodies vested with public authority.

      Article 146
      Citizens of the Republic of Croatia shall be European Union citizens and shall enjoy the rights
      guaranteed by the European Union acquis communautaire, and in particular:
      (...)
      – the right to submit petitions to the European Parliament, complaints to the European Ombudsman and the right to apply to European Union institutions and advisory bodies in the Croatian language, as well as in all the other official languages of the European Union, and to receive a reply in the same language.
      All rights shall be exercised in compliance with the conditions and limitations laid down in
      the founding treaties of the European Union and the measures undertaken pursuant to such
      treaties.
      In the Republic of Croatia, all rights guaranteed by the European Union acquis
      communautaire shall be enjoyed by all citizens of the European Union.

    • Ustav Republike Hrvatske
      Country:
      Croatia

      Članak 46.
      Svatko ima pravo slati predstavke i pritužbe, davati prijedloge državnim i drugim javnim tijelima i dobiti na njih odgovor.

      Članak 93.
      (2)Svatko može podnijeti pritužbu pučkom pravobranitelju ako smatra da su, uslijed nezakonitog ili nepravilnog rada državnih tijela, tijela lokalne i područne (regionalne) samouprave i tijela s javnim ovlastima, ugrožena ili povrijeđena njegova ustavna ili zakonska prava.

      Članak 146.
      Državljani Republike Hrvatske su građani Europske unije i uživaju prava koja im jamči pravna stečevina Europske unije, a osobito:
      (...)
      – pravo podnošenja peticija Europskom parlamentu, predstavki Europskom ombudsmanu te pravo obraćanja institucijama i savjetodavnim tijelima Europske unije na hrvatskom jeziku, kao i na svim službenim jezicima Europske unije, te pravo dobiti odgovor na istom jeziku.
      Sva prava ostvaruju se u skladu s uvjetima i ograničenjima propisanima ugovorima na kojima se temelji Europska unija te mjerama prihvaćenima na temelju tih ugovora.
      U Republici Hrvatskoj sva prava zajamčena pravnom stečevinom Europske unije uživaju svi građani Europske unije.

    • Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria
      Country:
      Bulgaria

      Art. 7. The State shall be held liable for any damages caused by unlawful acts or actions on the part of its agencies and officials.

    • КОНСТИТУЦИЯ на Република България
      Country:
      Bulgaria

      Чл. 7. Държавата отговаря за вреди, причинени от незаконни актове или действия на нейни органи и длъжностни лица.

    • Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz (B-VG)
      Country:
      Austria

      Artikel 18 (1) Die gesamte staatliche Verwaltung darf nur auf Grund der Gesetze ausgeübt werden. Artikel 23 (1) Der Bund, die Länder, die Gemeinden und die sonstigen Körperschaften und Anstalten des öffentlichen Rechts haften für den Schaden, den die als ihre Organe handelnden Personen in Vollziehung der Gesetze durch ein rechtswidriges Verhalten wem immer schuldhaft zugefügt haben.

    • Constitution of the Republic of Austria
      Country:
      Austria

      Article 18 (1) The entire public administration shall be based on law. Article 23 (1) The Federation, the Laender, the districts, the municipalities and the other bodies and institutions established under public law are liable for the injury which persons acting on their behalf in execution of the laws have by illegal behaviour culpably inflicted on whomsoever.

    11 results found

    • Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament a...

      Article 1 - Objectives and tasks
      ‘1. In order to step up the fight against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the European Union and of the European Atomic Energy Community (hereinafter referred to collectively, when the context so requires, as ‘the Union’), the European Anti-Fraud Office established by Decision 1999/352/EC, ECSC, Euratom (‘the Office’) shall exercise the powers of investigation conferred on the Commission by:
      (a) the relevant Union acts; and
      (b) the relevant cooperation and mutual assistance agreements concluded by the Union with third countries and international organisations. [...]‘
      ‘4. Within the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies established by, or on the basis of, the Treaties (‘institutions, bodies, offices and agencies’), the Office shall conduct administrative investigations for the purpose of fighting fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. To that end, it shall investigate serious matters relating to the discharge of professional duties constituting a dereliction of the obligations of officials and other servants of the Union liable to result in disciplinary or, as the case may be, criminal proceedings, or an equivalent failure to discharge obligations on the part of members of institutions and bodies, heads of offices and agencies or staff members of institutions, bodies, offices or agencies not subject to the Staff Regulations (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘officials, other servants, members of institutions or bodies, heads of offices or agencies, or staff members’). [...]‘

    0 results found