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Executive Summary4. Transparency and retrievabilityStandard: Given its role as decisive evidence, COI has to be – as a general principle– made available for all parties involved in refugee status determination, principallythrough the use of a transparent method of referencing. Original sources and reportsshould therefore be retrievable and their content and meaning should not be distorted inthe process of paraphrasing or translating.Main findings: A transparent system of processing and referencing country informationin decisions and case files has become a widely supported and respected norm in COIprofessional circles. Meanwhile, EU member states have neither elaborated a jointposition on rules and systems of referencing nor have determined common standardswith regard to information transparency in asylum procedures. The Procedures Directive,however, sets forth some important basic requirements (such as the justification of asylumdecisions in fact and in law and the access of counsellors to the information included intheir client’s file, if liable to be examined by appeal authorities).Going much further than law-makers, senior courts in several member stateshave established clear and specific standards in this respect. Jurisprudence frequentlyemphasises the right of asylum-seekers’ to know and to react on the COI materialsserving as basis for adjudicating their claim. Courts also appear to see the transparencyof COI (an often decisive piece of evidence) as a pre-condition for a valid and effectivejudicial review. On the basis of the clear norms established in the jurisprudence of ahigh number of EU member states, all actors of the asylum decision-making mechanismare encouraged to adopt these standards in the next phase of establishing a CommonEuropean Asylum System.9