The Treaty of Amsterdam explicitly introduced the concept of openness in Title I of the Treaty on European Union by stating that the Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen. The concept was finalised at the Nice summit in December 2000 with the proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union. The Charter includes among the fundamental rights of citizenship "the right to good administration and the right to complain to the European Ombudsman against maladministration" (Article 41).

Seen against the background of the openness process, the adoption of a code of good administrative behaviour complements the Bureau Decisions of 11 February 2003 and 5 June 2003 on public access to Committee of the Regions documents. The code of good administrative behaviour will therefore contribute to the Committee's transparency vis-à-vis European citizens and also help bring citizens closer to the European institutions.

Code of good administrative behaviour