On 30 January 2004, the European Commission published a report about the effectiveness of EU legislation on freedom of information. Article 255 of the treaty establishing the European Community, implemented through Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001, grants a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents to any Union citizen and to any natural or legal person residing, or having its registered office, in a Member State.

Two years after the implementation of the Regulation, it is hard to judge the effectiveness of the regulation, according to the Commission. The yearly amount of requests has doubled from 2001 to 2002, and the report suggests a similarly strong increase in 2003. Still, the total amount of requests remains low, namely 4.022 in 2002.

The European Court of Justice in a recent judgement has underlined the rights to freedom of information. If a governmental document cannot be disclosed in full for reasons of public security or institutional confidentiality, it should at least be made available in part.

To promote freedom of information and grant 'the widest possible access' to relevant governmental documents, the European Council and Commission adopted a Code of Conduct in December 1993, later both translating that Code into (legally binding) Decisions. According to those Decisions, access can only be refused if disclosure could undermine "the protection of the public interest (public security, international relations, monetary stability, court proceedings, inspections and investigations) or to protect the institution's interest in the confidentiality of its

Last Tuesday, a Dutch court ordered 21 foreign gambling websites to ban Dutch visitors. The sites are located in 10 different countries, from a well-known gambling paradise like Antigua to companies based in Canada and Australia.

The case was instigated by the national Dutch lottery (Lotto). This 100% state-owned company became very confident after winning a case in February against the international gambling firm Ladbrokes. Ladbrokes appealed. This appeal will serve on 28 July.

According to the preliminary verdict, the 21 gambling sites violate the Dutch Gambling Act because they are not licensed to offer online gambling in the Netherlands. Since Dutch people can directly access the sites, they are considered to operate within the Netherlands.

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers has adopted a Declaration on freedom of communication on the internet. The text contains 7 principles that underline the principle of freedom of expression and condemn practices aimed at restricting or controlling internet access, especially for political reasons. Remarkably, the 7th principle is the right of anonymity. "In order to ensure protection against online surveillance and to enhance the free expression of information and ideas, member states should respect the will of users of the Internet not to disclose their identity."

The declaration also deals with the freedom to provide services via the internet and the liability of providers. The provision of services via the internet should not be made subject to specific licence schemes, as still is the case in many countries outside of the European Union, nor should providers be obliged to monitor content on the internet. Closely following articles 12, 13 and 14 of the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC), the Council states that service providers should not be held liable for data they are merely transporting. In case of hosting, liability should only begin after the provider has become aware of the illegality of hosted material (to be defined in national law) and does not remove or disable access. Much clearer though than in the E-Commerce Directive, the Council of Europe underlines the need to protect the freedom of expression and the right of users to information.