Class description
The About the European Commission class content covers:
- how the Commission is structured, how it works internally and together with other institutions
- Departments and executive agencies: their contact details, as well as background information and current news for each directorate-general, executive agency and service department
- what the Commission does: an overview of roles and responsibilities
- service standards and principles: the main principles of good administration the Commission applies
- the ways in which individuals and groups can participate and offer opinions on Commission (and European Union) processes
- the different Commission contact points
- how to visit Commission locations across EU countries
Original research
This class has been created based on work carried out with stakeholders (DGs and people using Commission websites) between September 2014 and February 2015.
Note that the initial class name "About the EU" has been modified since the architecture building exercise.
List of tasks included in "About the EU"
| Task ranking | Task | Total vote | Task category |
| 15 | About the European Union (role, structure, how it works, origin) | 1.9% | Medium task |
| 19 | Freedom of information (transparency, access to documents) | 1.6% | Small task |
| 20 | About the European Commission (role, structure, how it works) | 1.6% | Small task |
| 37 | Languages in the EU (diversity, translation, interpreting) | 1.1% | Small task |
| 41 | Contact European Commission, European Union | 1.0% | Tiny task |
| 46 | Euro (coins, notes, eurozone, Economic and Monetary Union) | 0.8% | Tiny task |
| 53 | EU budget | 0.7% | Tiny task |
| 54 | EU vocabulary and abbreviations | 0.7% | Tiny task |
| 68 | Complaints to the European Commission | 0.4% | Tiny task |
| 72 | Visit EU institutions, guided tours | 0.3% | Tiny task |
| 73 | European Commissioner profiles | 0.3% | Tiny task |
| 77 | President of the Commission (profile, agenda) | 0.2% | Tiny task |
| 11.0% |
Organisational goals
Research identified the following organisational goals:
- transparency
- improve citizens' perceptions of the European Union
- explain, eg EU's law and rules; help others to explain
- show the results of projects/European Union's work
Read more on Process to define the 15 classes: original research
Content management in the class
DG Communication is entirely responsible for the content published in the About the EC class. The relevant DG/Agency manages content on their Department page and is able to update their organisational charts, for example, without prior authorisation from Europa Web Communication (DG COMM B3).
DG HR is responsible for updating and adding new persons to a Department page.
For all other types of content changes to ec.europa.eu/info, DGs/Agencies must seek the agreement of DG Communication before implementing changes.
For more information
Please contact the appropriate Europa account manager.