Madrid, 17 October 2014 – The UN Human Rights Committee has been urged to look into violations of freedom of expression and the right to information in Spain in a letter sent by leading international media freedom organisations. This is the first time that freedom of expression organisations have raised the case of Spain before the UN Human Rights Committee. The signatories of the letter, coordinated by the International Press Institute, are Access Info Europe, AMARC Europe, Article 19, European Federation of Journalists, Free Expression Associates, Reporters Without Borders, and the World Association of Newspapers.

Post originalmente publicado en El Blog de Tuderechoasaber.es Madrid, 14 de octubre de 2014 – En Tuderechoasaber.es empezamos una serie de posts en los que vamos a intentar explicar en qué consiste la Ley de Transparencia para que estemos todos preparados para usarla a partir de su entrada en vigor el 10 de diciembre de 2014. ¿Cuándo entra en vigor la ley de transparencia? La Ley 19/2013, de 9 de diciembre, de transparencia, acceso a la información pública y buen gobierno consta de tres partes. Vamos a aclarar cuándo entra en vigor cada una de ellas y para qué instituciones:

Madrid, 26 de septiembre de 2014 – Con ocasión del Día Internacional del Derecho a Saber, el 28 de septiembre, Access Info Europe reclama al Gobierno de España que regule cuanto antes el Consejo de la Transparencia y propone una serie de recomendaciones basadas en estándares internacionales para dotarlo de mayor independencia. A menos de tres meses de la entrada en vigor de la ley de transparencia (que se producirá el 10 de diciembre de 2014), la sociedad española aún no sabe cómo será el organismo encargado de velar por el cumplimiento de las obligaciones de transparencia en España. Lo

Madrid, 9 September 2014 – Spain’s Transparency Law will enter into force in three months, on 10 December 2014, but to date the Spanish Government has not made public any information about how the new law will be implemented nor how the Transparency Council will be appointed. Access Info Europe and Fundación Ciudadana Civio have yet to receive a reply to a letter sent on 20 August 2014 asking Spanish State Secretary José Luis Ayllón Manso to clarify the status of preparations for implementation of the law. The Spanish government should do the following before the law comes into effect

Madrid, 27 June 2014 – In order to lift the lid on the lack of transparency around the decision making process with the sugar industry in Spain, Access Info Europe has joined the ’25 gramos’ campaign at its launch held this week. It is particularly difficult to find out who is taking part in, and influencing the decision-making process regarding sugar as there is currently no regulation in Spain to ensure lobbying transparency. As part of the campaign, Access Info Europe with Spanish civil society organisation Fundación Ciudadana Civio will investigate the transparency around sugar industry lobbying, a powerful food

Madrid, 11 de junio de 2014 – Access Info Europe ha enviado esta semana sus comentarios al borrador del II Plan de Acción de España para la Alianza para el Gobierno Abierto (OGP, en sus siglas en inglés). El borrador quedó abierto a consulta pública tras su presentación el pasado mes de mayo; no obstante, cabe destacar que el proceso de consulta abierto por el Gobierno ha sido muy deficiente. Tal y como apunta el comentario enviado, el Plan de Acción carece de propuestas firmes y concretas para lograr un real avance en temas de Gobierno Abierto en España. En

Madrid, Wednesday 14 May 2014 – The Spanish government has developed a its second Open Government Action Plan as part of its involvement in the Open Government Partnership, a 64-country initiative promoting transparency, participation, and accountability, and is inviting comments from members of the public to be sent to an email address provided below. Under the Open Government Partnership rules, Spain should hold a full consultation with civil society on the new action plan, something which did not happen with the first action plan in April 2012. To date only a very limited consultation is being planned, with distribution to

Madrid, 14 April 2014 - Access Info Europe today presented a case against Spain at the European Court of Human Rights challenging the refusal to recognise a right of access to information following a seven-year legal battle to obtain information from the Ministry of Justice about anti-corruption measures. The case has been presented to the Strasbourg Court after Spain’s Constitutional Court last year rejected an appeal based on the freedom of expression provisions of the Constitution (Article 20.1.a) and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. “In a country plagued by corruption scandals, the failure to recognise a

» Administrative silence increased with respect to 2012 despite the fact institutions should be working already to meet the requirements of the new law » Only 13% of requests received the information asked for » Whilst Spanish Autonomous Communities were better at responding, municipalities and other local levels ignored 81% of requests made – an increase of more than 11% compared to the previous year » Access Info Europe and Fundación Ciudadana Civio present the Tuderechoasaber.es Report 2013, analysing access to information requests sent to Spanish institutions Madrid, 9 April 2014 – In 2013, the year the Spanish Transparency Law