It’s just like the good old days: the doorbell rings, and there is the postman with a registered letter – how exciting!! – you sign and open it, but nowadays you are more likely to find it’s a letter from the European Commission refusing to grant access to this or that document.

These days we refer to the postal service as “snail mail”. And yes, once again the Berlaymont Snail has arrived in Madrid to deliver a letter to Access Info!

Except that the refusal to grant access to information had already arrived ten days ago via AsktheEU.org. The Commission’s use of post to supplement electronic delivery of refusals began on 1 April 2014 when it introduced a policy of refusing to answer requests that did not come with a “valid postal address”. Access Info Europe is challenging this practice before the European Ombudsman.

Have you received post from the Berlaymont Snail in response to an access to EU documents request?