Søknad om innsyn datert 17.11.08 uten svar

Walter Keim

Torshaugv. 2 C

NO-7020 Trondheim

17 November 2008

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Utenriksminister Jonas Gahr Støre

Pb 8114 Dep.

N-0032 Oslo

CC. Helen Darbishire, Access Info Europe

Sandra Coliver, Senior Legal Officer, Open Society Justice Initiative

Re: Request for Information re Convention on Access to Official Documents

Dear Mr. Gahr Støre

I am writing to make a request for information from the Council of Europe according to Act of 19 June 1970 No. 69 relating to public access to documents in the public administration as subsequently amended, most recently by Act of 20 June 2003 No. 45 (short title: Freedom of Information Act, i. e. offentlighetsloven § 2).

On 12 November 2008 the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights of the Committee of Ministers met to consider the Opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the draft Convention on Access to Official Documents (PACE Opinion of 3 October 2008).

I understand that the Rapporteur Group made a recommendation on whether or not the Convention on Access to Official Documents should be redrafted in the light of the concerns raised by PACE. I have been informed that the outcome of that meeting is not public. The next stage in the decision-making process is a final decision by the Committee of Ministers (Ministers’ Deputies) on 27 November.

I wish to know:

what the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights recommended to the Committee of Ministers with respect to the draft Convention on Access to Official Documents;

the list of all the participants in the meeting;

the positions taken by each of the governments present on whether or not to open the Convention for redrafting.

I note that the Council of Europe Recommendation 2002(2) on Access to Official Documents states that wide public access to documents is necessary for “encouraging informed participation by the public in matters of common interest”. It is clear that development of the world’s first binding convention on Access to Official Documents is a matter of significant public interest and hence it is imperative that there be public participation in and scrutiny of the process by which this Convention is concluded. Access to information is essential for democratic debate and defence of human rights, values which the Council of Europe is mandated to uphold and promote.

Yours sincerely

Walter Keim