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European Commission fails to prove the need for its postal addresses policy

2018-11-13T09:46:14+01:00

Madrid, 19 June 2015 – Access Info Europe this week expressed concern at the European Commission’s insistence on maintaining its obstructive requirement for all documents requesters to provide their postal addresses, after the Commission admitted in response to parliamentary questions that the policy is based on just one case of “abuse” over the past 14 years. Answering a parliamentary question by MEP Julia Reda, the Commission cited the case of a requester who allegedly used 13 identities to submit requests, the only case they could identify since the access to documents regulation came into force in 2001. Julia Reda immediately

European Commission fails to prove the need for its postal addresses policy2018-11-13T09:46:14+01:00

Transparency is Essential for a Credible Post-2015 Development Agenda

2018-11-13T10:05:08+01:00

Madrid, 19 June 2015 – Access Info Europe has joined civil society organisations from around the globe in calling on the UN to take significant steps to integrate transparency, accountability and participation more fully into the Post-2015 development agenda. In proposing a series of crucial edits to the “Zero Draft” of the Outcome Document for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Transparency, Accountability and Participation (TAP) Network argues that a development framework that fails to promote openness will lack credibility and risks disempowering the very communities it should be serving. “The development agenda for the next 15 years must include mechanisms that

Transparency is Essential for a Credible Post-2015 Development Agenda2018-11-13T10:05:08+01:00

2018-11-13T09:46:27+01:00

Date: 8-10 June 2015 Location: Vilnius, Lithuania Transparency International Secretariat hosted a meeting in Lithuania for its European chapters that were working on their two-year lobby transparency project. They invited Access Info Europe and ALTER EU as external participants to the meeting, to provide our feedback and input. We specifically discussed the global lobby transparency standards that we have been working on alongside TI, Open Knowledge Foundation and Sunlight Foundation. We also took some time to discuss our campaign work on lobby transparency at the EU level and proposed some ideas for joint activities, particularly on how TI chapters could

2018-11-13T09:46:27+01:00

Civil society urges World Bank to collect and publish beneficial ownership data of contractors

2018-11-13T09:46:28+01:00

Madrid, 10 June 2015 - Over 100 civil society organizations from around the globe including Access Info Europe, on 8 June 2015 called on the World Bank to require that all companies bidding for Bank-financed procurements disclose their beneficial ownership information and that this information be published in an open data format as part of the Bank’s efforts to foster transparency in its contracting practices. Such a move would be in line with current trends to end corporate anonymity: On 5 June 2015, the Norwegian Parliament voted unanimously to establish a beneficial ownership registry, following in the footsteps of the

Civil society urges World Bank to collect and publish beneficial ownership data of contractors2018-11-13T09:46:28+01:00

Access Info sends its submission to the Spanish Transparency Council’s public consultation

2018-11-13T09:46:28+01:00

Madrid, 9 June 2015 - - Access Info Europe has sent today its contributions to the open consultation by the Transparency Council and Good Government on its Strategic Plan 2015-2020. Access Info contributions are divided in two sections: » Some pending issues which deserve the attention and intervention of the Transparency Council, among which stand out: the need to press for the development of the Regulation that develops the transparency law; the need to simplify the process to submit applications; and the need torevise the management of deadlines of the institutions when answering  access to information requests. » Suggestions about functions,

Access Info sends its submission to the Spanish Transparency Council’s public consultation2018-11-13T09:46:28+01:00

EU Member States urged to guarantee access to registers of beneficial owners of companies

2018-11-13T09:46:29+01:00

Brussels/Madrid, 4 June 2015 – Access Info Europe has welcomed the adoption of the EU’s Anti Money Laundering Directive obliging Member States to set up a central registry of beneficial owners of companies, but has warned that this information will not be available to investigative journalists and civil society watchdogs unless Member States take steps to ensure that the registers are public. The Anti Money Laundering Directive [1], which EU Member States now have two years to transpose into national law, requires each country to maintain a centralised database on the natural persons behind legal structures, in a bid to

EU Member States urged to guarantee access to registers of beneficial owners of companies2018-11-13T09:46:29+01:00

El Gobierno afirma que el silencio administrativo no supera el 1% en los últimos cinco meses

2018-11-13T09:46:29+01:00

Post originalmente publicado en El Blog de Tuderechoasaber.es Madrid, 6 de mayo de 2015 - Desde que Access Info Europe empezó a monitorear en 2005 el nivel de respuesta de las instituciones públicas españolas a las solicitudes de acceso a la información hasta el último informe de Tuderechoasaber.es en 2014, la falta de respuesta ha sido la tónica dominante: cerca de una de cada dos solicitudes de información ha obtenido la callada por respuesta. Eso es lo que implica el silencio administrativo, que si pasado el plazo que indica la ley para un procedimiento administrativo, de un mes en el

El Gobierno afirma que el silencio administrativo no supera el 1% en los últimos cinco meses2018-11-13T09:46:29+01:00

Access Info Europe welcomes European Ombudsman investigation into excessive secrecy of “trilogues”

2018-11-13T09:46:30+01:00

Madrid, 28 May 2015 - Access Info Europe today welcomed the decision by the European Ombudsman to investigate the lack of transparency of “trilogues”, the informal and secretive negotiations between the EU’s Commission, Council and Parliament by which much future legislation is decided. In spite of their crucial role in the legislative process, trilogues are closed meetings, and there is a severe lack of access to key information such as participants, agendas, minutes or documents considered. Access Info has frequently criticised trilogues for violating the fundamental rights obligations of the EU treaties, which require that EU institutions “conduct their work

Access Info Europe welcomes European Ombudsman investigation into excessive secrecy of “trilogues”2018-11-13T09:46:30+01:00