The Council of Europe’s Access Info Group (AIG)*, in its first, baseline evaluation report on Slovenia assessing the compliance of the Slovenian Public Information Access Act with the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromsø Convention), found that the Act largely aligns with the principles and obligations of the Convention. It recommended, however, that Slovenia revises the legal time limit for deciding on access requests.
Most of the Public Information Act’s limitations on the right of access to official documents comply with the Convention’s conditions for restricting this right, the report says. In particular, the AIG welcomes the Act’s requirement for a case-by-case balancing of confidentiality interests against the public interest in accessing official documents. Other positive aspects include the lack of excessive formalities in submitting requests for official documents and the independent review of access denials by the Slovenian Information Commissioner.
The AIG recommends, nonetheless, that Slovenia revises the legal time limit for deciding on access requests to ensure that when public authorities do not rely on legal exemptions of access, they decide on them as soon as reasonably practicable. When exemptions are engaged, a reasonable extension of time which enables a determination of whether or not there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the requested information should be applied.
The Tromsø Convention is the first-ever binding international legal instrument to recognise everyone’s right to access official documents held by public authorities upon request. So far, 17 Council of Europe member States have ratified the treaty and another four have signed it with a view to its ratification. It was ratified by Slovenia and entered into force there in 2023.
The Convention lays down minimum obligations for its Parties to guarantee the right to access official documents, balancing the protection of the public interest in transparency with the protection of other legitimate interests, such as national security, defence and international relations. The treaty also establishes obligations on the procedures for handling requests for information and the review of denial decisions by an independent body or a court.
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*The AIG is a body established pursuant to the Tromsø Convention to evaluate the treaty’s implementation by its Parties in law and practice and to propose recommendations for fully complying with its provisions. It is currently composed of ten independent experts in the field of access to official documents.