IS INFORMATION ON DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES DISCLOSED IN EUROPE?

WE SENT 55 ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUESTS IN 11 EUROPEAN JURISDICTIONS.
HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND

ONLY 60% OF INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE

Key information requested to understand how decisions are taken regarding policy and legislation is not available to the public, impeding public participation and scrutiny of decision-making processes. Half of the information requested was denied by European governments
or simply did not exist.

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL:
THE OUTCOMES OF OUR REQUESTS

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL:
DOCUMENT-BY-DOCUMENT

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL: HOW LONG
DID WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR RESPONSES?

WHAT EXCEPTONS APPLIED TO
DENY (FULL OR PARTIAL) ACCESS?

WHAT TYPE OF DOCUMENTS DID WE ASK FOR?

We asked for types of documents we believe to be relevant when trying to follow and understand a specific decision-making process.
This is the kind of information we requested:

Lists of meetings

This document includes the number of meetings held by the public authority and, in the best scenarios, it can also include date, place, participants and topic of each meeting.

Minutes of meetings

Minutes of meetings contain (detailed) information about the participants and their positions. You might request minutes if you are interested in knowing what participants said and if any agreement was reached.

Third party documents

Interactions between public authorities and private interest representatives are common, and when they take place, lobbyists often submit documents containing their proposals and suggestions. These documents might include e-mails, phone records, or anexxed documents.

Public officials

This information will tell you the names of the public officials and government representatives who participated or were present in a certain meeting.

Names of companies

This information will tell you the names of the companies to which private interest representatives participating in a meeting with a public authority belong.

Names of lobbyists

This information will tell you the names of the private interest representatives participating in a meeting with a public authority or government representative.

REQUESTING INFORMATION COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY

Find below the outcomes we got for the more than 200 pices throughout 55 information requests submitted in these 11 European jurisdictions. Keep scrolling to find more details per country: what kind of information did we ask for, what was disclosed, and what wasn’t.

Austria

We looked for information regarding FOI law amendments, awards of honorary titles, pesticides legislation, tobacco law and copyright.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

55% of information was denied!

	List of meetings	Dates of meetings	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names	Name of companies	Name of lobbyists
Constitutional Amendment Freedom of Information Law
Reform of Copyright Act (2014)
Amendment to the Tobacco Act (2015)
Police State Protection Act
Tax Reform (2015)

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information denied
Information not held

Croatia

We looked for information regarding Catholic Church exemptions, tenders for oil exploitation and conversion of citizen's credits to Euros.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

52% of information was disclosed!

	Dates of meetings	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names	Name of companies	Name of lobbyists
Government meeting with bankers (2013)
Miniter of Finance meeting with Catholic Church (2014/15)			N/R
Minister of Economy meeting with oil industry (mandate)	N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R
Minister of Economy meeting with bank representatives A (mandate)			N/R

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information denied
Information not held
NOT REQUESTED Topics which were not included in the request

Finland

We looked for information regarding the adoption of a mandatory lobby register at the EU level.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

50% was not held!

	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)
Ratification of the European Patent Court Agreement		N/R
Tobacco Law (transposition of Tobacco Products Directive)
Reform of the Environmental Protection Law – provisions on public participation		N/R

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information not held

Germany

We looked for information regarding CO2 limits, minimum wage, pharma laws, inheritance taxes and pension reform.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

54% of information was partially disclosed!

	List of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names	Name of companies	Name of lobbyists
Minimum Wage Law
Lobby contacts: Law on the Restructuring of the Pharma Market
Lobby contacts in 2014: Pension Reform
Lobby contacts in 2015: Pension Reform

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information partially disclosed
Information denied
Information not held

Greece

We looked for information regarding re-use of public sector information, public procurement legislation and infertility treatment legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

It was impossible to access any information due to Administrative Silence!

	Minutes of meetings
Legislative Committe: drafting law on Open Data and Access to Information	ADMIN. SILENCE
Legislative Committe: drafting law on Civil Partnership	INFO NOT HELD
Legislative Committe: drafting law on Business Licensing Simplification	ADMIN. SILENCE

Table key:
ADMIN. SILENCE Requests in which the public authority did not answer (administrative silence)
INFO NOT HELD Requests in which the public authority did not hold the requested information

Ireland

We looked for information regarding the FOI Act, legislation on policing authorities and miscellaneous and tobacco legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

77% of information was disclosed!

	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names	Name of companies	Name of lobbyists
Freedom of Information Act (2014)	NOT REQUESTED
Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneus Provisions) Bill (2015)		N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R
Public Health (Standardised Tobacco Package) Act (2014)		N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information not held
NOT REQUESTED Topics which were not included in the request

Italy

We looked for information regarding the FOI Act, legislation on policing authorities and miscellaneous and tobacco legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

100% of information was denied!

	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)
Budget Law (2014)	A/S	N/R
Prorogations Decree A (2014)	A/S	N/R
Prorogations Decree B (2014)	N/R
Stability Law (2015)	N/R
Reform of the National System of Education A	N/R	A/S
Reform of the National System of Education B	A/S	N/R

Table key:
Information denied
ADMIN. SILENCE Requests in which the public authority did not answer (administrative silence)
NOT REQUESTED Topics which were not included in the request

Slovenia

We looked for information regarding telecommunications companies privatisation, Family Code proposal and legislation on net neutrality.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

70% of information was disclosed!

	List of meetings	Dates of meetings	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)
Amendments: Law on Marriage and Family Relations
Privatisation of “Telekom Slovenije”				N/R
Amendments: Electronic Communications Act				N/R

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information partially disclosed
Information not held
NOT REQUESTED Topics which were not included in the request

Spain

We looked for information regarding plans on companies and human rights, own electricity supply and production regulation and Open Government Partnership action plans.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

36% of information was partially disclosed after appeal!

	List of meetings	Dates of meetings	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names	Name of companies	Name of lobbyists
Royal Decree 900/2015
National Companies and Human Rights Plan
Open Government Alliance A		N/R		N/R
Open Government Alliance B	N/R	N/R	N/R		N/R	N/R	N/R	N/R

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information disclosed after appeal
Information partially disclosed
Information partially disclosed after appeal
Information denied
Information not held
NOT REQUESTED Topics which were not included in the request

United Kingdom

We looked for information regarding the Trade Unions Bill, public subsidies for wind farms, Heathrow airport expansion and investigatory powers legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

55% of information was denied!

	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)	Public officials in charge	Public officials names
Trade Unions Bill
Meetings in 2015: legislating to close the Renewables Oblibation
Decision on the Expanssion of Heathrow
Investigatory Powers Bill
Freedom of Information Act review

Table key:
Information disclosed
Information partially disclosed
Information denied

European Union

We analysed 15 access to documents requests submitted through AsktheEU.org regarding different EU decision-making processes.

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

54% of information was partially disclosed!

	List of meetings	Minutes of meetings	Third-party documents (including correspondence)
Disclosed	88,9%	6,7%	0,0%
Denied	0,0%	13,3%	9,1%
Partial	0,0%	60,0%	81,8%
Information not held	11,1%	20,0%	9,1%

RECOMMENDATIONS ON INFORMATION DISCLOSURE

Reduce time taken to make information publically available

Prompt responses to requests are essential to facilitate potential participation in decision-making processes. This also counts when responding to appeals.

Apply exceptions narrowly to information related to decision making

Exceptions should always be applied narrowly and always taking into account any overriding public interest in full (or partial) disclosure.

Create records

Public authorities have a duty to document information around decision-making processes that is essential to ensure public participation and scrutiny, as well as for the historical record.

TWEET YOUR SUPPORT!

IS INFORMATION ON DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES DISCLOSED IN EUROPE?

WE SENT 55 ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUESTS IN 11 EUROPEAN JURISDICTIONS. HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND

ONLY 60% OF INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL: THE OUTCOMES OF OUR REQUESTS

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL: DOCUMENT-BY-DOCUMENT

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL: HOW LONG DID WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR RESPONSES?

WHAT EXCEPTONS APPLIED TO DENY (FULL OR PARTIAL) ACCESS?

WHAT TYPE OF DOCUMENTS DID WE ASK FOR?

Lists of meetings

Minutes of meetings

Third party documents

Public officials

Names of companies

Names of lobbyists

Lists of meetings

Minutes of meetings

Third party documents

Public officials

Names of companies

Names of lobbyists

REQUESTING INFORMATION COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY

Austria

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Croatia

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Finland

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Germany

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Greece

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Ireland

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Italy

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Slovenia

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

Spain

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

United Kingdom

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

European Union

WAS THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED?

RECOMMENDATIONS ON INFORMATION DISCLOSURE

WE SENT 55 ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUESTS IN 11 EUROPEAN JURISDICTIONS.
HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL:
THE OUTCOMES OF OUR REQUESTS

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL:
DOCUMENT-BY-DOCUMENT

THE RESULTS IN DETAIL: HOW LONG
DID WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR RESPONSES?

WHAT EXCEPTONS APPLIED TO
DENY (FULL OR PARTIAL) ACCESS?