10. Right of Access to Information
Inter-American Court of Human
Rights
European Court of Human Rights
UN Human Rights Committee
Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
UN Special Rapporteur Freedom of
Expression
11. Right to Expression & Information (Art.19)
UN Human Rights Committee
27 July 2011
12. UN Human Rights Committee
Article 19, paragraph 2 on Freedom of Expression
embraces a right of access to information held by public
bodies.
Such information includes records held by a public body,
regardless of the form in which the information is stored,
its source and the date of production.
13. Article 15 EU Treaty
Article 42 Charter of Fundamental Rights
of the EU
= Fundamental right
of access to EU documents
European Union
Lisbon Treaty 2009
14. Right of Access to Information
2 obligations
Reactive: respond to requests
Proactive: publish information
15. A duty to publish ...
To give effect to the right of access to
information, States parties should
proactively put in the public domain
Government information of public
interest.
States parties should make every effort
to ensure easy, prompt, effective and
practical access to such information.
21. Essential Elements of the Right
Right of everyone
All information
All public bodies
Limited exceptions
Free (copying costs only)
Rapid provision of information
Independent oversight bodies
36. Council of Europe - 47 countries
18 June 2009
Convention on Access to Official
Documents
37. Exceptions
1. national security, defence and international relations;
2. public safety;
3. the prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal activities;
4. disciplinary investigations;
5. inspection, control and supervision by public authorities;
6. privacy and other legitimate private interests;
7. commercial and other economic interests;
8. the economic, monetary and exchange rate policies of the state;
9. the equality of parties in court proceedings and the effective
administration of Justice;
10. environment; or
11. the deliberations within or between public authorities concerning
the examination of a matter.
50. “If citizens are to be able to exercise their
democratic rights, they must be in a position to
follow in detail the decision-making process”
and that they should “have access to all relevant
information.”
Access Info Europe vs. Council of EU
22 March 2011
51. Appeal, 21 February 2013:
Council
+Czech Republic, France, Greece, Spain, and the
UK.
Access Info Europe
+ European Parliament
Council of EU vs. Access Info Europe
53. Law-making [is an] activity that in a
democratic society can only occur through
the use of a procedure that is public in
nature and, in that sense, ‘transparent’.
Opinion of Advocate General
16 May 2013
54. » Put it in your story!
» Make it a story!
Tip ∞
It’s your right:
use it or lose it!
55. Great FOI Websites
» Access Info Europe: The Access Info Europe website about our activism:
www.access-info.org
» RTI-Rating: Analysis of all the world’s access to information laws www.rti-rating.org
» AsktheEU.org: website for requesting info from the European Union
www.asktheeu.org
» Legal Leaks: guidance for journalists, www.legalleaks.info
» Whatdotheyknow.com: website for requests in the UK www.whatdotheyknow.com
» Fragdenstaat: website for requests in Germany www.fragdenstaat.
» Guardian newspaper Freedom of Information: guide on how to file requests in
the UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/dec/30/freedomofinformation.uk2
» BBC Freedom of Information: great resource page www.bbc.co.uk/foi/
» The Story: great example of open journalism and FOI from Ireland by Gavin
Sheridan, http://thestory.ie/
» The Rendition Project: http://www.therenditionproject.org.uk/global-rendition/the-
flights/
» Council of the EU: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/documents/legislative-
transparency?lang=en
