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Access Info Europe and the Open Society Media Program launched Ten Recommendations for Transparency of Media Ownership in a presentation to the 47 governments of the Council of Europe meeting in Belgrade, Serbia. Presenting the recommendations, Mark Thompson of the Open Society Media Program called for the Council of Europe to take a lead in creating a regulatory framework for ensuring that citizens can know who really owns the media. "Public knowledge of owners' identities helps to ensure that abuses of media power can be assessed, publicised, openly debated and even prevented." Research released by Access Info Europe and the

This toolkit is designed for journalists working in any media – newspapers, radio, and television – as well as bloggers and other information professionals who need to get access to information held by public bodies for their stories. The toolkit is for journalists making requests in their own country or considering filing a request in another country. It is based on a comparative analysis of the access to information of the 40 countries of the Council of Europe region which have such laws. In many places in the text we have put references where national law or practice deviates from

The Council of the EU is failing to comply with EU transparency rules by not respecting time frames for responding, applying too many extensions to requests, and not informing all requesters of their right to appeal when information is denied, according to a report published today by Access Info Europe. Analysis of 50 access to documents requests submitted to the Council between 2011 and 2013 via the AsktheEU.org platform, found that the average time for answering was 20 working days, significantly over the maximum 15 working days permitted by EU law. Requests which resulted in partial denials of information were

Published in October 2009, the Aid Transparency Toolkit is a guide for civil society organisations and members of the public interested in knowing more about how aid works and where the money goes to get the answers to their questions. This Toolkit is designed for CSOs in the north and south working on aid effectiveness, monitoring the implementation of aid projects, seeking to participate in decision making on development strategies or investigating corruption in aid funding and delivery. It can also be used by individuals from donor or recipient countries who are intersted in knowing about aid funds. The toolkit

To celebrate Europe Day, Access Info launched in 2013 a citizen-friendly Guide on Access to EU Documents, calling on members of the public and civil society organisations to exercise their rights and file access to documents requests. The EU has recognised a fundamental right of access to EU documents, but the EU's freedom of information law – which goes by the catchy title of 'Regulation 1049/2001' – remains underused by the population at large. The guide demystifies the process of asking for EU documents explaining step by step how to make a request. Access Info hopes the guide will encourage