Third party documents held by an EUSR
Article 6
1. When an EUSR receives an application for access to a document, which he or she holds, but which originates from a third party, the third party shall be consulted unless it is clear that the document shall or shall not be disclosed, in light of the exceptions set out in the Regulation. 2. Access to the document shall be granted without consultation of the third party if the document has already been made public by its author, has already been released to the public by other EU institutions and bodies, or if it is clear that the disclosure, or partial disclosure, of its contents would obviously not affect any of the interests referred to in Article 4 of the Regulation. 3. The third party must be consulted if the document is covered by Article 9 of the Regulation, or if the document originates from a Member State and the Member State has requested the EUSR not to disclose the document without its prior agreement under Article 4(5) of the Regulation. Such a request by a Member State must be made in writing. 4. The third party shall be consulted in writing and be given a reasonable time limit to reply, taking into account the time limits set out in Article 3 above. The third party shall give its opinion in writing. 5. In the absence of a reply from the third party within the prescribed time limit, or if the third party is unidentifiable or untraceable, the EUSR shall decide on the application in light of the exceptions set out in the Regulation, taking into account the legitimate interests of the third party on the basis of the information at the disposal of the EUSR. 6. If the EUSR intends to give access to a document against the explicit opinion of the third party, it shall inform the third party of their intention to disclose the document within the deadline applicable under the Regulation.