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Fees for FOI Requests Breach European Rules on Access to Information

2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Madrid/Dublin, 12 November 2013 – The specialist freedom of information NGO Access Info Europe today expressed serious concern at attempts to maintain and even increase fees for FOI requests in Ireland and noted this is not permitted by European and international standards. Access Info Europe noted that the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents expressly prohibits charges for requests. The Convention clearly states that a fee may only be charged to the applicant “for a copy of the official document, which should be reasonable and not exceed the actual costs of reproduction and delivery of the document”

Fees for FOI Requests Breach European Rules on Access to Information2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Friends of the Earth Spain publish locations of GMO test fields

2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

– Companies have asked to plant test GM crops in 40 locations in Castilla y León out of 62 in total across Spain – Civil society organisations report that the Spanish Government gave the information when most of the experiments had already finished Valladolid, 13 November 2013 – Amigos de la Tierra, Access Info Europe, COAG, Plataforma Rural and Red de Semillas have today published a map with the exact loaction of the GMO test fields in Spain [1]. The Spanish government has released the information outside legal timeframes, when the majority of the tests had been

Friends of the Earth Spain publish locations of GMO test fields2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Recommendations for Transparency of Media Ownership presented to Council of Europe

2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Belgrade/Madrid, 7 November 2013 - Access Info Europe and the Open Society Media Program today 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

Recommendations for Transparency of Media Ownership presented to Council of Europe2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

OGP civil society organisations concerned about disproportionate surveillance by governments

2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

London, 1 November 2013 - OGP civil society organisations have expressed their concern, in a public statement made today, about the contraditions between recent revelations on disproportionate government surveillance on the one hand, and their OGP commitment to more transparent, accountable, responsive and effective government, on the other. It comes after the final plenary session on the first day of the London OGP Summit when Indian Human Rights campaigner Aruna Roy challenged US Secretary of State John Kerry on the revelations of mass surveillance of populations around the world by the US government. You can read a copy of the

OGP civil society organisations concerned about disproportionate surveillance by governments2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

OGP countries need to take the Right to Information seriously

2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Halifax/Madrid, 1 November 2013 - Global right to information organisations Access Info Europe (AIE) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) today called on Open Government Partnership (OGP) Participating Countries to make serious commitments to strengthen their right to information laws in the next round of action plans, due to be presented in April 2014. One of the biggest concerns at the London OGP summit is that governments are not making commitments which will move them beyond the current situation and that they are not being ambitious or “stretching” with planned reforms. This concern is particularly acute in relation

OGP countries need to take the Right to Information seriously2018-11-13T10:12:18+01:00

Non-financial reporting: concerns over weakening of the EU proposals on corporate transparency

2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Brussels, 28 October 2013 – In April 2013 the EU Commission launched a reform to improve corporate transparency on environmental and human rights matters. The European Coalition for Corporate Justice , which Access Info is a member of, welcomed the initiative as a first step towards corporate accountability, while highlighting the loopholes in the proposed changes. What follows is an update from the ECCJ coalition secretariat on the status of the EU negotiations; if passed, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive has the potential to increase the amount of information available to the public about the impacts businesses have on human rights

Non-financial reporting: concerns over weakening of the EU proposals on corporate transparency2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Access Info and ALTER EU launch a petition calling for full EU lobby transparency

2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Access Info and ALTER EU launch a petition calling for full EU lobby transparency Brussels/Madrid, 29 October 2013 – Access Info as part of the ALTER-EU coalition of civil society organisations have launched a petition for citizens to call for a mandatory and detailed lobby register for the European Union. The petition is being sent to Rainer Wieland MEP, European Parliament Vice-President for Transparency and chair of the group to review the EU lobby register. Sign the petition here!

Access Info and ALTER EU launch a petition calling for full EU lobby transparency2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Introducing the ‘Legal Leaks’ toolkit

2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Journalists play a central role in initiating and stimulating public debates but face constant challenges in accessing information from public bodies, particularly when that information relates to issues such as corruption and organised crime, violations of human rights, controversial international relations, environmental contamination, relationships with business and lobby groups, and the more sensitive aspects of EU integration. Legal Leaks helps to empower journalists to recoup their role as public watchdogs through exercise of their right of access to information in both their own country and other countries. The Legal Leaks toolkit has been designed for journalists working in any media

Introducing the ‘Legal Leaks’ toolkit2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Open Government Partnership: Civil society challenges Spain’s self assessment of open government commitments

2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Madrid, 28 October 2013 - Within the framework of the Open Government Partnership, Spain has submitted its self-assessment of its open government commitments made in the April 2012 national action plan. Access Info Europe considers that this first action plan introduced by Spain as well as its self-assessment are of low quality and therefore will accomplish little in Spain's development towards a more open government. On the one hand, the action plan introduced has only four relevant commitments that will directly affect Open Government development in Spain: The approval of a Transparency Law, the Transparency and Accountability of Official Development

Open Government Partnership: Civil society challenges Spain’s self assessment of open government commitments2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

Congratulations from the European Parliament and Michael Cashman on the ECJ ruling, Council v Access Info Europe

2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00

  Madrid, 22 October 2013 – The European Parliament has issued a statement welcoming the 17 October 2013 ruling by the European Court of Justice in the case of Council v Access Info Europe Case C-280/11 P stating that EU citizens need a clearer and wider access to the decision-making process. The European Parliament had joined Access Info Europe in defending against attempts by the Council of the EU to quash a 2011 its 2001 win before the General Court which ruled that the NGO should have full access to Council documents.

Congratulations from the European Parliament and Michael Cashman on the ECJ ruling, Council v Access Info Europe2018-11-13T10:12:19+01:00
Original content developed by Access Info Europe and is made public under a Creative Commons Attribution, Share Alike licence.