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About Helen Darbishire

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So far Helen Darbishire has created 1914 blog entries.
23 Jan 2014

Access Info condemns German Government attempts to block dissemination of documents obtained using FOI law

2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00

Madrid, 23 January 2014 – Access Info Europe today condemned the cease and desist order sent by the German Government to information request platform FragdenStaat.de, requiring it to take offline a document written by government staff and obtained under Germany’s access to information law on the grounds of protection of copyright. The document is an opinion about a German Federal Constitutional Court judgement that had declared the 5% minimum share of votes for political parties to take seats in the European elections as unconstitutional. Contrary to the opinion – which also stated that any other kind of threshold would also

Access Info condemns German Government attempts to block dissemination of documents obtained using FOI law2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00
10 Jan 2014

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU The campaign, focusing on European Parliament elections in May 2014, seeks commitments from MEP candidates to fight against corporate lobbies’ excessive influential power in the decision making process in Brussels. Madrid, 10 January 2014 – Access Info has launched a new project in Spain in the lead up to the 2014 European Parliamentary elections. The Pledge Campaign, in partnership with organisations from across Europe, aims to secure commitments from European Parliament election candidates to improve the transparency of lobbying activities in the EU, and

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00
24 Dec 2013

Events during 2013

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Workshop - ¿Se puede acabar con la evasión y la elusión fiscal? 26 November, Madrid, Spain Pam Bartlett participated in the workshop "¿Se puede acabar con la evasión y la elusión fiscal?" on tax evasion and offshore companies, organized by OxfamIntermón and Inspiraction. The workshop was part of a project called "STOP evasión fiscal". International Congress "Open Government. Theory and Reality" 21-22 November, Valencia, Spain Victoria Anderica participated at the International Congress "Open Government. Theory and Reality", where she talked about Open Government Standards in Spain. For more information, please read Victoria's Power Point presentation  "Participation, Transparency and Fight Against

Events during 20132018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00
22 Dec 2013

Access Info in the news 2013

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

New articles from 2013 Over 100 groups call on US govt to end mass surveillance of web users The Times of India | 19/12/2013English - Over 100 civil society groups from across the world joined individuals leaders and thinkers, including Aruna Roy and Tim Berners-Lee, in asking the US government to end mass surveillance of the web users. Read more... Activists, civil society groups call for overhaul of governments' privacy laws South China Morning Post | 19/12/2013English - Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has teamed up with more than 100 civil society groups and leading activists

Access Info in the news 20132018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00
19 Dec 2013

Leading Civil Society Organisations Call for Government Transparency on Mass Surveillance

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Madrid/London, 19 December 2013 - Access Info Europe, over 110 civil society organisations across the world, together with individual leaders and thinkers including Aruna Roy and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, have expressed concern that secret mass surveillance and the persecution of whistleblowers contradict the ideals of “open government”. The statement has been sent just as a White House Review Panel recommended that the US National Security Agency should be stripped of its power to collect telephone records in bulk. The groups are calling on Open Government Partnership (OGP) member governments to include specific commitments in their OGP Action Plans to overhaul

Leading Civil Society Organisations Call for Government Transparency on Mass Surveillance2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00
18 Dec 2013

Recommendations for Progressive Improvements on RTI

2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00

Madrid/Halifax, 18 December 2013 - Specialist right to information organisations Access Info Europe and Centre for Law and Democracy led on the drafting of a set of recommendations for progressive improvements to the right to information (RTI) which should be introduced by governments participating in the Open Government Partnership (OGP). These recommendations form the right to information chapter of the Open Government Guide, which was released at the Open Government Partnership Summit in October 2013. In addition to the key recommendation that States should adopt a law giving effect to the right to information which meets international standards, the chapter

Recommendations for Progressive Improvements on RTI2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00
12 Dec 2013

UN anti corruption conference makes progress on beneficial ownership transparency and access to information

2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00

Madrid, 13 December 2013 – Access Info Europe has welcomed the progress made on beneficial ownership transparency and access to information mechanisms during the recent conference of governments which are signatories to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), held on 25-29 November in Panama. Access Info Europe has been engaged in advocacy for stronger transparency mechanisms under the UNCAC as part of the UNCAC Coalition of civil society organisations. The agreement to promote transparency of the real owners of businesses followed significant advocacy work by civil society as well as an impassioned conference speech by former UN Secretary General Kofi

UN anti corruption conference makes progress on beneficial ownership transparency and access to information2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00
12 Dec 2013

Standards: Lobbying Transparency via Right to Information Laws

2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00

Standards: Lobbying Transparency via Right to Information Laws Madrid, 12 December 2013 – Access Info Europe today published a set of recommendations on the information which governments should make available to ensure that there is full transparency around lobbying. “It is not sufficient to place the burden on lobbyists to publish information: public bodies have an obligation to be transparent about their relations with interest groups,” said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe.

Standards: Lobbying Transparency via Right to Information Laws2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00
4 Dec 2013

Access Info Europe calls for the creation and publication of registers of beneficial owners.

2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00

Madrid, 4 December 2013 - Access Info Europe together with Inspiraction and Intermon Oxfam has called upon Spanish MEPs to support the creation of a public register of beneficial owners of any kind of corporate structure, trusts, and businesses. This letter was has been sent in the context of an international campaign led by the Financial Transparency Coalition, and with the participation of organisations around Europe. This letter has been sent at a key time, with the EU revising the fourth EU Directive on Money Laundering. The period for presenting amendments closes on the 5 December and the letter is

Access Info Europe calls for the creation and publication of registers of beneficial owners.2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00
4 Dec 2013

Why you should not need to provide personal ID in order to request access to information

2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00

The Spanish Transparency, Access to Information and Good Governance Law establishes the rules on the access to information procedures in Article 17, one of which is identifying the identity of the requester. This is not necessarily a problem, given that many access to information laws around the world also ask for such information in order to direct the response directly back to the requester, the difference and real problem in Spain is that access to information is considered an administrative procedure and therefore making requests comes under administrative procedure rules. The following mini report by Access Info outlines the reasons

Why you should not need to provide personal ID in order to request access to information2018-11-13T10:12:14+01:00
Original content developed by Access Info Europe and is made public under a Creative Commons Attribution, Share Alike licence.