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Madrid, 13 October 2014 – Access Info Europe is challenging the European Commission’s policy of demanding postal addresses as a precondition for registering requests for access to EU documents as part of a complaint being considered by the European Ombudsman. Access Info Europe argues that Commission’s policy, adopted on 1 April 2014, of refusing to register requests without postal address interferes unnecessarily and disproportionately with citizens' ability to exercise their right of access to documents and is in breach of Regulation 1049/2001. The issue of addresses was raised by the Commission as part of an exchange of views regarding the

Madrid, 9 October 2014 - Access Info Europe today welcomed the publication by the Council of the European Union of the negotiating directives for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), following a long battle by civil society and MEPs to obtain this key document, and the opening of an investigation by the European Ombudsman. Access Info noted that rather ironically, the newly declassified document states at Article 41 that "Nothing in this Agreement should affect EU or Member State laws regarding public access to official documents." Indeed, the directives require specific proactive transparency on any rules and measures which

Three New Transparency Campaigns Focus on the Demand for More Access to EU Documents Madrid, 29 September 2014 – Access Info Europe has launched a new version of the request platform AsktheEU.org, which now includes special features to help civil society organisations campaign to get access to EU documents, in celebration of International Right to Know Day on 28 September. The features include campaigns pages that civil society groups can use to highlight areas of lack of transparency and to advocate for access to particular EU documents related to issues they are working on.

Madrid, 28 September 2014 – On the occasion of International Right to Know Day, Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe, argues that the European Union should be taking a strong lead on transparency standards across the 28 country region of 500 million inhabitants. With 751 new members of the European Parliament getting settled into their offices in Brussels, and with the new European Commission – the ministers of the Union – about to be appointed, civil society is demanding a strong transparency agenda in which the EU takes the lead and sets standards to be followed by all