The Access Info Group (AIG) of the Council of Europe has published its Annual Activity Report for 2025, which gives an overview of the meetings of the AIG and its other activities to promote the Tromsø Convention.

The Tromsø Convention is the first binding international legal instrument to guarantee everyone’s right to access official documents held by public authorities. The AIG’s main responsibility is to monitor the implementation of the Convention, notably reporting on the adequacy of the measures in law and practice taken by the Parties to give effect to the provisions of the Convention. In 2025, the AIG held a number of meetings, and adopted Baseline Evaluation Reports in respect of Albania, Armenia, Slovenia and Spain. The AIG also published its first opinion on the interpretation of the Convention, which elaborated on the definition of “official documents” under the Convention.

The AIG launched its first thematic evaluation round under the Convention, by issuing a questionnaire to the Parties on the efficient management of documents held by public authorities and the application of clear and established rules for the preservation of their documents. The AIG also shared the questionnaire with civil society organisations for comment.

In 2025, the AIG continued to engage in various activities to raise the Convention’s visibility and promote its ratification by Council of Europe Member States and non-member States. This included gaining observer status with the International Conference of Information Commissioners and hosting a Workshop on the intersection of privacy rights with the right of access to information from public authorities. The AIG continued to hold regular exchanges of views with the Consultation of the Parties in 2025, allowing for a mutually beneficial dialogue between the two monitoring bodies for the Convention.

For more information on the AIG’s activities in 2025, see the full report here.