On 1 December, 2020, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) and the Project “European Union and Council of Europe are working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine organize a press conference “The launch of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents”.

The Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromsø Convention) is the first binding international legal instrument to recognize a general right of access to official documents held by public authorities.

The Convention enters into force on 1 December, 2020, thanks to Ukraine, which became the tenth country to ratify the instrument and thus put it into effect.

During the event, experts will present the significance of the Convention for Ukraine and Ukraine's participation in the work of the international monitoring bodies, as the experience gained since 2011 in implementing the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Public Information", which takes into account the provisions of the Tromsø Convention, gives Ukraine the opportunity to share best practices and issues with the application of the Convention.

Date: 1 December 2020

Time: 12:00-13:00

Place: National News Agency of Ukraine – Ukrinform, 8/16 Bohdan Khmelnytsky St., Kyiv.

The event will be broadcasted on CEDEM's Facebook page and Ukrinform's YouTube channel. English-speaking listeners are invited to join the Zoom conference.

SPEAKERS:

• Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy
• Olena Lytvynenko, Acting Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine
• Ihor Rozkladai, Deputy Director of CEDEM
• Tetyana Oleksiyuk, Council of Europe consultant

Journalists and representatives of civil society organisations in the sphere of access to public information are kindly invited to participate.

If you have additional questions, in particular about the link to the Zoom conference, please contact Eugenia Girieva, CEDEM media lawyer, [email protected].

The project “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”, funded by the EU and CoE, aims to enhance the role of media, its freedom and safety. Follow the news of the Project on its Facebook page.