Blog

Country case study: Austria

2018-11-13T10:12:10+01:00

Is media ownership transparent? In law YES In practice YES IN LAW According Media Law, as amended in 2011, it is possible to finds out who owns print, online and broadcast media through information reported directly to the public. All media must disclose directly to the public enough information for their real owners to be identified, including information on all shareholdings, beneficial owners back to a real person and those with indirect interests and control. Information reported to the media authority, the Austrian Communications Authority (KommAustria), under the Audiovisual Media Services Act or Private Radio Broadcast Act will also reveal

Country case study: Austria2018-11-13T10:12:10+01:00

Events during 2014

2018-11-13T10:12:10+01:00

Special Seminar on Transparency of Media Ownership 3 October 2014, Brussels, Belgium Helen Darbishire took part in a special seminar hosted by the European Commission on media ownership transparency, pluralism and freedom that was live-streamed to facilitate virtual participation. As part of the event, Access Info Europe and Open Society Programme on Independent Journalism published new research on media ownership transparency in Europe and its neighbourhood, to put this issue on the agenda of the incoming college of European Commissioners. Personal Democracy Forum Italia 2014 29 September, Rome, Italy Helen Darbishire will be attending the Personal Democracy Forum Italia 2014,

Events during 20142018-11-13T10:12:10+01:00

Post-2015: Access to information and independent media essential to development

2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

Madrid, 3 February 2014 - Access Info Europe along with 195 civil society organisations from around the world have called on the United Nations (UN) to put government accountability and independent media at the centre of a new framework for global development. The joint statement coordinated by ARTICLE 19 and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) comes ahead of a meeting of the UN Open Working Group for Sustainable Development Goals, which takes place in New York this week - and will include further discussions on governance. You can see a full list of the signatories and the text

Post-2015: Access to information and independent media essential to development2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

Civil society reacts to the imminent regulation of lobbying in Spain

2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

Madrid, 5 February 2014 – Just as Spain makes its first steps towards regulating lobby activities, Access Info Europe CECU, CIECODE-Proyecto Avizor, La Fundación Ciudadana Civio, Open Kratio y Qué hacen los Diputados have warned of the need to consult civil society, and base any future regulation on advanced international standards in order to meet this new challenge for transparency. On 12 February, a Spanish Parliamentary Commission will decide whether lobbying is to be regulated or not[1]. The civil society organisations believe that in order to follow decision-making processes and ensure that decisions are made in the public interest, greater

Civil society reacts to the imminent regulation of lobbying in Spain2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

EU Calls on Spain to Strengthen Transparency Law

2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

Madrid, 3 February 2014 – Access Info Europe today welcomed the European Union’s first anti-corruption report on Spain, which called for measures to strengthen Spain’s transparency law adopted in December 2013 in line with those which civil society has been campaigning for. Access Info Europe today urged the Spanish government to act immediately on the recommendations, which include guaranteeing independence of the appeals body, enhancing sanctions for non-compliance, and a narrower scope of exceptions to the principle of access to information.

EU Calls on Spain to Strengthen Transparency Law2018-11-13T10:12:11+01:00

Hackathon of the European Parliament: Analysing the assets declarations of MEPs

2020-01-29T11:27:24+01:00

Brussels, 24-26 January 2014 – This year’s Hackathon of the European Parliament, attended by Access Info Europe and other activists and programmers, resulted in an interactive visualisation of MEP assets declarations. Other projects by participants included an application for analysing voting, an application for searching declarations of interests, and a website that allows you to see which subjects have been tackled by the EU parliament over the past legislature. At the Hackathon, Access Info took part in the project to visualise the assets declarations of MEPs, helping to create an informative and interactive visualisation for citizens to see how many

Hackathon of the European Parliament: Analysing the assets declarations of MEPs2020-01-29T11:27:24+01:00

ALTER-EU verdict on the review of the EU Transparency Register: “hugely disappointing”

2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00

ALTER-EU verdict on the review of the EU Transparency Register: “hugely disappointing” Brussels, 27 January 2014 – Transparency campaigners cannot find a single area of “good progress” made by the review group to improve the EU’s lobby register, according to a scorecard published today by ALTER-EU. The scorecard assesses the outcome of the recent EU Transparency Register review process against ALTER-EU’s own recommendations for reform. The assessment has been made after receiving leaked copies of the final outcome of the review process. Out of the ten ALTER-EU recommendations for reform, five were assessed as “no progress made” and a further

ALTER-EU verdict on the review of the EU Transparency Register: “hugely disappointing”2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00

Access Info condemns German Government attempts to block dissemination of documents obtained using FOI law

2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00

Madrid, 23 January 2014 – Access Info Europe today condemned the cease and desist order sent by the German Government to information request platform FragdenStaat.de, requiring it to take offline a document written by government staff and obtained under Germany’s access to information law on the grounds of protection of copyright. The document is an opinion about a German Federal Constitutional Court judgement that had declared the 5% minimum share of votes for political parties to take seats in the European elections as unconstitutional. Contrary to the opinion – which also stated that any other kind of threshold would also

Access Info condemns German Government attempts to block dissemination of documents obtained using FOI law2018-11-13T10:12:12+01:00

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU The campaign, focusing on European Parliament elections in May 2014, seeks commitments from MEP candidates to fight against corporate lobbies’ excessive influential power in the decision making process in Brussels. Madrid, 10 January 2014 – Access Info has launched a new project in Spain in the lead up to the 2014 European Parliamentary elections. The Pledge Campaign, in partnership with organisations from across Europe, aims to secure commitments from European Parliament election candidates to improve the transparency of lobbying activities in the EU, and

Access Info Launches New ‘Pledge Campaign’ Initiative To Fight For Greater Lobby Transparency In The EU2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Events during 2013

2018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00

Workshop - ¿Se puede acabar con la evasión y la elusión fiscal? 26 November, Madrid, Spain Pam Bartlett participated in the workshop "¿Se puede acabar con la evasión y la elusión fiscal?" on tax evasion and offshore companies, organized by OxfamIntermón and Inspiraction. The workshop was part of a project called "STOP evasión fiscal". International Congress "Open Government. Theory and Reality" 21-22 November, Valencia, Spain Victoria Anderica participated at the International Congress "Open Government. Theory and Reality", where she talked about Open Government Standards in Spain. For more information, please read Victoria's Power Point presentation  "Participation, Transparency and Fight Against

Events during 20132018-11-13T10:12:13+01:00