80,000+ Sign Avaaz Petition against the draft 3.600 Contributions received to 15-day web-based consultation on draft Article Updated: 14 April 2012 – The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe, the Coalición Pro Acceso, and thousands of Spanish citizens call for a stronger transparency law in the face of a sub-standard draft. Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría on 12 April 2012 reported that 3,600 submissions were received in the 15-day consultation – an impressive number given that the consultation was held during the Easter holiday period. Access Info Europe has called for full transparency on the submissions

Madrid, 3 April 2012 – Access Info today published recommended submissions for the public consultation on Spain’s draft Access to Information law. These are in addition to a formal submission which will be made by the over 50 NGOs members of the Coalición Pro Acceso. The very short consultation ends on Tuesday 10 April. Access Info’s position is that the draft law is substandard and not in line with international standards, in particular because the definition of the information which can be requested is severly limited and because the exceptions are applied in a blanket fashion without harm or public

Madrid, 26 March 2012 – The Spanish government today opened for public consultation the draft “Law on Transparency, Access to Public Information, and Good Governance”. Specialist NGO Access Info Europe welcomed the law and unprecedented consultation but noted that serious improvements are needed to bring the law into line with international standards, in particular by revising the definition of information which establishes excessive exceptions thereby excluding large quantities of information from the right to request access. The law together with information on the public consultation is available here. A copy can be downloaded here

Madrid, 22 March 2012 – As of today people in Spain will be able to make and track requests for Information from public bodies in a simple and free way via the new web portal TuDerechoaSaber.es (“Your right to know”) being launched by human rights organisations Access Info Europe and Fundación Ciudadana Civio. Based on mySociety’s Alaveteli software which also runs AsktheEU.org and Whatdotheyknow.com (UK), this pioneering website is being launched in the expectation that the Spanish government will adopt and access to information law during the first half of 2012. “The website tuderechoasaber.es aims to breach the wall of