Access to public documents for all
Greece to adopt Tromso Convention, recognizing right to papers held by state agencies
Greek citizens and legal entities will soon be able to request access to public documents, both administrative and private, as the Tromso Convention will be voted for by Parliament on Friday.
Greece is one of the last countries in Europe tο have not yet adopted the Tromso Convention which entered into force on December 1, 2020.
The Tromsο Convention was the first binding international legal instrument to recognize a general right to access official documents held by public authorities.
Greece’s adoption of the convention is seen as another important step towards transparency and citizen participation in the public sphere.
Through this instrument, citizens can, for instance, ask the municipality where they live to find out how much money has been allocated for playgrounds, how many have finally been built and how many are expected to be built.
Citizens can also ask a hospital to find out last year’s hiring and public funding, or how much it cost to upgrade the infrastructure in a school building and how many people work in a public institution.
The convention will be introduced through a change to Article 5 of the Code of Administrative Procedure included in a draft law of the Interior Ministry, which allows any natural or legal person to lodge a request in written or electronic form, or in person.
Administrative documents are those drawn up by the public authorities, such as reports, studies, minutes, statistics, circular instructions, replies from the administration, opinions and decisions, while private documents are those drawn up by a private individual but filed and kept in a public office.
The requests can also be anonymous.
The competent authority may refuse a request if the document relates to the deliberations of the Cabinet of Ministers, or where the document impedes the investigation of judicial, administrative, police or military authorities.
The time limit for granting documents is 20 days. If the request is not granted in this period of time then the Ombudsman takes over through a team consisting of experts, members of civil society organizations and civil service officials to evaluate the request.
