ACCESS INFO’S LATEST NEWS
KEEP UP TO DATE! READ ABOUT OUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK FIGHTING FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY ACROSS EUROPE
Ratification Readiness
Ratification Readiness Analysis This is a resource page for national NGOs and FOI experts working on analysis of whether their national legal framework is ready for ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents. You can download here the framework for the analysis, the Convention and the Explanatory Memorandum: • Ratification Readiness Analysis Framework
Europe and the Police
Ireland, Germany, Spain lagging behind on police transparency Ireland is the only country in Europe to exclude the police from the scope of its freedom of information law, in Germany the right to know does not apply to all police forces, and Spain is the largest EU country without an access to information law and so no public right to
access info’s EU requests
Access Info’s Access to EU Documents Requests Access Info firmly believes that an access to information law is meaningless unless it is actually used. Apart from that, making requests is an excellent way to monitor the state of transparency within the European Union. It also provides us with opportunities to push for greater transparency by taking legal action, for example.
Commitment to review Counter-Terror laws in Europe
Commitment to Review Counter-Terror Laws in Europe On Wednesday 7 October Access Info joined 40 organisations in sending an open letter to the Council of Europe’s new Secretary General Thorbjoern Jagland calling for follow up to the commitment made by member states at a meeting held in Reykjavik in May 2009 to review the impact of counter-terror laws on freedom
Letter to Zapatero
The Coalición Pro Acceso calls for an open and participatory debate around Spain’s new access to information law To mark International Right to Know Day (28 September) the Coalición Pro Acceso launched a campaign in support of access to information in Spain. The Coalición Pro Acceso yesterday wrote to President Zapatero welcoming his recent announcements confirming that the Spanish Government
Exceptions
Exceptions: Can I get access to all information (or documents) held by public bodies? No. The right of access to information is not an absolute right. There may be some small quantities of information that public bodies hold that would cause harm if they were released, at least if released at this point in time. For example, to release all
Cover photo: International Open Data Conference via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)