In the Directorate General for External Relations (DG 1), Mr. Avery was Director for relations with the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand from 1989, and then Director for Relations with the countries of the European Free Trade Area, and for the European Economic Area. As Director for the Task Force for Enlargement in 1993-94, he participated in the accession negotiations with Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway and was the Commission's negotiator with Austria. He was Chief Adviser (in DG 1A - Director General for External Political Relations) responsible for Foreign Policy Planning in 1995 and Chief Adviser for Enlargement in 1996-98, responsible for the Commission's opinions on the applications for membership by countries of Central and Eastern Europe; and chief adviser for strategic questions in the Directorate General for Enlargement in 2000-2002. He contributed to the Commission's "Agenda 2000"(DG1A) report and was author of a report on "Policies for an Enlarged Union" for the Commission's White Paper on Governance in 2001.

Some of the series levels in this fonds, overlap each other, therefore it is worth while going over all the documents .