European Union

EU: Patients get information at last – following EU-Ombudsman decision

BRUSSELS – 11 / 8 / 2010 – Side-effects of medicines? So far a secret on European level, but now soon to be public thanks to a successful wob-request. Important Ombudsman argument on basic right to information, definition of documents and proportional work-load.

UNITED KINGDOM - Good questions do have an impact

BRUSSELS – 7 / 6 / 2010 – The British government makes big promises for more open governance. This may well be a consequence of a wob-request for the expenses of British MPs, which ended up causing a big scandal last year.

Lobbyists can not expect secrecy

BRUSSELS – 15 / 10 / 09 - The ‘presumption of confidentiality’ between EU institutions and their contacts can not be used as an argument anymore to reject access to document requests, if the European Court of Justice follows today’s opinion by the General Advocat.

Slipping through the net

BRUSSELS - 19 / 9 / 2009 – A new report analyses the state of transparency on European Union fishsubsidies. It shows, that the new obligatory active publication settled the previous fight about business secrets and privacy: Now all beneficiaries are to be made public. But while wobbing gave 15 out of 16 pieces of information, the active publication gives only 4 out of 16 pieces of information.

EU: When even the date is secret

BRUSSELS – 12 / 9 / 2009 - The European Medicines Agency has been criticised for not being open enough. Now it has sent its future transparency policy into a public hearing. Comments possible until September 25th 2009.

The real price for nuclear power not secret anymore

BRUSSELS – 12 / 6 / 2009 - Thanks to the wob on environmental information, a Belgian politician achieved a breakthrough in access to information about costs for nuclear power in Belgium.

EU: Netherlands support transparency line by seven ministers

BRUSSELS - 16 / 4 / 2009 - In the struggle to improve the EU-wob, the Netherlands support the transparency line by seven ministers from Nordic and Baltic countries aswell as from Slovenia. The ministers in an open letter expressed their concern that the planned reform of the EU-wob would roll back existing rights rather than to improve them.

EU COMMENT: Danger of public being pushed back into the paper ages

BRUSSELS – 10/3/2009 – Will the public be held in the paper ages, while the EU administration is moving on to modern electronic administration? Analysis and comment on access to information in the EU institutions at a cross-road vote tomorrow between rolling back or preparing for the future.

Germany: Court questions EU transparency initiative

BRUSSELS - 9/3/09/ - A German court now questions the initiative of the European Commission to disclose end-recipients of the European farmsubsidies.

EU: Baltic and Slovene ministers unite for better EU wob

BRUSSELS - 5/3/09 - Seven ministers call for the EU to make a commitment to more transparency, when revising the EU-wob. The common articles comes ahead of next weeks vote on the subject in the European Parliament.

Europe: Protection of privacy and media privilege - interesting court ruling

BRUSSELS - 22/02/09 - The core of the disagreement was dissemination of individual income tax information via a specialised newspaper in Finland. The European Court of Justice was asked to look into the delicate balance between protection of privacy and freedom of expression.

Parties stay tough on their positions, as EP-debate on wob approaches

Parties keep their positions as they struggle towards a reform of the EU-wob, a recent debate in the European Parliament showed. Debate in key-committee scheduled for February 17th.

US: New wob fully in force now

A reform of the US-wob was carried out and all sections have now come into force. Read a useful resumé of the most important changes at LLRX.

United Kingdom: Get a copy of your public ‘performance’ using the Freedom Of Information act or WOB

MANCHESTER - 11th of DECEMBER  2008 - You probably know that CCTV cameras everywhere on the streets, buses, stations, in shops and banks and so on, are watching you. Especially in Britain, where there are an estimated 13 million CCTV cameras. But you might not know that you can actually get a copy of these video records. By using the Freedom Of Information act or WOB, you can legally ask for any data – including the aforementioned video records – stored on you. (source: UK Telegraph) >>

Europe: Wob-conference in Brussels gets cooperations off the ground

BRUSSELS - NOVEMBER 25TH 2008 - New journalistic stories using freedom of information acts as an integral and important part of the research are well on the way after conference in Brussels this weekend.

EU: More then 800.000 euros of easy money revealed by wob-request

BRUSSELS - 20TH OF OCTOBER 2008 - About 60 MEPs have signed up for daily allowances of almost 300 euro for a day of meetings, when no meetings are held. This was revealed by a recent wob-request.

Some of Europe's best wobbers meet in Brussels

BRUSSELS - 15TH OF NOVEMBER 2008 - In the context of the European Investigative Journalism Conference, some of Europe's most experienced and active wob-journalists will gather.

Secret documents on side-effects wobbed out – online now

COPENHAGEN - 23. OCTOBER 2008 - An international team from Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark started to wob out previously secret documents on side effects last year. After intense additional research they finalised their series of articles today, and the previously secret reports are now published on the internet to provide this important information to the public.

United Kindom: FOIA generates 1,000 stories in two years

LONDON - 6 OKTOBER 2008 – The Freedom of Information Act has led to the media publishing more than 1,000 stories based on disclosures by public authorities in just two years, according to a new report. The disclosures, made under the UK and Scottish legislation, demonstrated the enormous range of information being released, said the report, published by the Campaign for Freedom of Information. >>

United Kingdom: 'Government still reluctant to release data'

LONDON - 8 OKTOBER 2008 – The Freedom of Information Act had not stopped a culture of secrecy pervading government, a House of Lords Committee was told today. Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley said that despite the government promising the public a right to obtain information held by public authorities, an attitude still existed at Westminster that freeing information would lead to persecution of government departments.(source: The Guardian) >>

Sweden: Wob, politics and subsidies - EU-Commission rejects access to files on media monopoly

BRUSSELS - 25. SEPTEMBER 2008 - The European Commission has turned down a wob-request concerning a case between Sweden and the Commission about state subsidies and media diversity. The Commission considers it an ongoing case and thus rejects acces - a notion that is completely unknown in Sweden. And also a notion, that the Commission wants to fix in the forthcoming new law about access to information in the EU.

Netherlands-Europe: MEP Erik Meijer asks European Commission about transparency

BRUSSELS – 15th of June 2008 – Dutch MEP Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL, SP NL) questions European transparency in the EU. See below three series of questions (NL) that the fraction askes in Strassborg. The answers are foreseen in a couple of weeks. 

EU: Breakthrough judgement on legal documents

BRUSSELS - JULY 4TH 2008 - Citizens, journalists and elected members of the European Parliament will in the future have better access to legal advise given during preparation of law. The openness-breakthrough is the result of a judgement in the Turco-case. The Italian former MEP Maurizio Turco had in 2002 asked the Council of the EU for a legal analysis on draft-legislation regarding minimum standards for the reception of applicants for asylum in Member States.

Commissioner Wallströms hits back at critics: ”They can’t have read the text”

STOCKHOLM – 10th of June 2008 – Commissioner Margot Wallström, responsible for the proposed revision of EU transparency rules, says criticism of her proposal is based on misunderstandings, and an inability to read the text.

EU: Ombudsman warns that citizens' right of access to documents is at risk

BRUSSELS - 2nd of June 2008 - The European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros today raises the question, whether the EU really is committed to openness and transparency. Ahead of a hearing on the reform of the EU-wob, he publishes a harsh criticism of the draft law and urges the European Parliament to defend opennes.

EU: Hearing on draft new EU-wob

BRUSSELS - May 30th 2008 - The European Parliament invites to a public hearing about the draft new EU-wob Monday June 2nd in Brussels. Key actors like vice-president of the European Commission, Margot Wallström, and EP-rapporteur, Michael Cashman will be among the speakers, aswell as a number of others concerned with the legislation.

Europe: Wobbing.eu endorsed by European Journalism Centre

BRUSSELS - May 26th 2008 - Hardly one year online, wobbing.eu got endorsed by the director of the European Journalism Centre.

EU: Swedish government announces fight against rolling back of EU-wob

BRUSSELS - May 20th 2008 - The Swedish minister of Justice is disappointed about the draft EU reform for access to documents. The Swedish government has already taken contact with the European Parliament and other governments to prevent a rolling-back of transparency.

EU: Ombudsman consults on access to information in databases

BRUSSELS - 15th May 2008 - The European ombudsman investigates the options for access to information held in databases. This is a follow-up on a case by wobsite-editor towards the Commission, that was considered "maladministration" by the Ombudsman last autumn. The consultation in the European Network of Ombudsmen comes amidst the ongoing debate about the reform of the EU-wob, 1049/01.

EU: Swedish Journalist's Association considers draft EU-law 'disgraceful'

BRUSSELS - 10th of May 2008 - The Swedish Journalist's association raises an alarm: "This is a disgracul attack against  transparency in the EU," it says in a recent press release commenting on the recent EU-Commission draft on a reform of the rules to access to documents. Not only does the Commission claim this to be an improvement, but it also prevents media and citizens from a true possibility for access to documents.

EU: Experts go into detail with draft EU-wob

BRUSSELS - April 30th 2008 - Take a look at the draft new EU-wob and read arguments by key players article by article. Wobbing.eu has talked to the European Commission expert Marc Maes, who drafted the new legislation, and we have talked to Oluf Jørgensen, Danish professor of media law and expert in wobs. We also quote the analysis by Tony Bunyan of Statewatch and by the European Citizens Action Service ECAS.

EU: Draft new wob met with harsh criticism

BRUSSELS - April 30th 2008 - When the European Commission today published it's draft for the reform of the EU-wob, it was met with harsh criticism by experts and civil society groups.

EU: From beer to principles

BRUSSELS – April 17th 2008 – It started with the import of Bavarian beer to England, now it’s developping to one of the most principal cases about access to information in the EU. Two new intervenors, one on in favour, one against transparency.

EU: Updated list of cases online

BRUSSELS - 16th of April 2008 - As a service Wobbing.eu provides a list over wob-cases on EU-level. The new list is online with interesting cases. Explanation for the tool here.

Britain: Information Commissioner gets tough

The British Information Commissioner, who is overviewing the appropriate use of the British wob, is getting tough on those authorities, who do not grant access properly, according to the Open Secrets blog by Martin Rosenbaum at the BBC.

EU: Names of lobbyists are not secret – for the time being

BRUSSELS – 31 March 2008 - The European Commission has promised to obey by the new transparent case-law and to disguise the names of lobbyists, eventhough it has appealed the case to the European Court of Justice.

EU: Ombudsman investigates databases

BRUSSELS – 25 March 2008 - The European Ombudsman has started an investigation into wobbing databases all over Europe. Based upon a case raised by farmsubsidy editor in 2005 he now addresses all European Ombudspersons.

Germany: Henri-Nannen jury recognises wob-story

BRUSSELS - 22/3/08 - When one of the most prestigious German journalism-awards, the Henri-Nannen-Award, published this years nominees this week, a wob-story was mentioned among the ones close to nomination. German journalists are not used to wobbing, and the data behind the story constitute a breakthrough. The story is another one in the European series about farmsubsidy-recipients. See all the documents on the wobsite.

EU-Commission to draft new wob this spring

BRUSSELS – 4. February 2008 - The European Commission intends to draft an amendment to the EU-wob in the first quarter of this year. Among the core questions are, who should decide on access to large requests, privacy of professionals and whether the Commission can introduce a “practice” on which access is granted to databases.

EU: Lobbyists names are not secret

BRUSSELS - November 2007 - Lobbying the EU is not a private matter. That was the conclusion in a recent court case about access to names of persons participating in the EU decision making procedure.

EU: Member states can not generally block access anymore

EU watchdog criticises Commission and comments on access to databases

Germany: Breakthrough in access to farmsubsidy-data

Britain, EU: British government in close contact with large tele-companies

BRUSSELS - 28. October 2007 - The European Union tried to support consumers by capping the maximum roaming costs for using mobile phones. However the British government had a close contact with large tele-companies. The information was revealed through wob-requests and published in articles by journalist Dominic Kennedy at The Times.

EU vs Sweden: European Commission questions Swedish transparency

BRUSSELS - 10. of October - Does the public have a right to know about genetically modified feedstuff? Yes, ruled the Swedish authorities on highest level, after lower instances had rejected the wob-application. But the European Commission is not amused and threatens Sweden with a court case for too much transparency.

EU: Norwegian transparency useful in Brussels according to forthcoming book

BRUSSELS - 4th of October 2007 - Norway has taken some of it's traditional transparency to Brussels. Officials at the Norwegian Representation with the EU on the internet publish daily lists about it's incoming and outgoing documents, according to an upcoming Norwegian book about access to information for journalists.

EU: New data out about fishsubsidies

BRUSSELS - 4th of October 2007 - New data about fishsubsidies have been released to an NGO. This gives precedence so others - among them journalists - can get access to these data aswell. Previously similar data were released to a journalist - see examples here.

EU: Long expected report shows few journalist applications

BRUSSELS - 2. October 2007 - Only 1.07 percent of applicants for access to documents in the Commission in 2005 stated, they were journalists. This may be due to the fact, that there is no obligation to state a reason for applying, and journalists may be behind the 30+ percent of applications without a stated profession. Interest organisations are prominent among users of the law. Long expected report by the Commission gives new statistics on use of wob.

Denmark: Life FOI-application for European data held by the US

BRUSSELS - 16. September 2007 - Following the yearlong quarrels between EU, the US and not least data-protectors and civil liberties activists about European flight-passenger data, a Danish newspaper-blog now runs a life application for European PNR-data with the US authorities.

EU: Brussels-journalists against 'routine secrecy'

BRUSSELS - 16. September 2007 - The International Press Association in Brussels, API, half lost half won a case about access to EU-Commission documents at the Court of First Instance. API criticises "routine secrecy".

EU-ombudsman: Disclose names of industry lobbyists

BRUSSELS - 24. July 2007 - In a recent decision, the EU-ombudsman further defined the exception of privacy. He stated that the Commission had failed to do it’s duty and give access to documents including the names of industry lobbyists. A Dutch NGO had only received partly access to some documents, the names of industry lobbyists were blanked.

EU: Pro-transparency opinion in important court case

BRUSSELS - 19. July 2007 - How will EU-transparency develop? The rather young legislation is currently tried in several court cases at the European Court of Justice. This week the Advocate General published his opinion, which suggests transparency to win. In 80 percent of the cases the court follows the opinion of the Advocate General.

EU: Investigative journalists unite to defend EU transparency

BRUSSELS - 5. July 2007 - Investigative journalists from all over Europe unite to stop EU-Commission from rolling back access to documents. Under the headline "Save transparency" they today submit their comment on the EU greenpaper on a reform of the existing EU wob, Regulation on Access to Documents.

EU: Stronger wob for the environment in force now

BRUSSELS -  25. June 2007 - A new, stronger tool on wobbing documents on environmental issues held by the EU institutions comes into force June 27th 2007. The Aarhus Convention, that has been in force in several EU member states for years, now also is implemented by the European Union.

Europe: Struggle for better wobs all over Europe

BRUSSELS - 4. June 2007 - According to a recent OSCE study, the struggle for better wobs and better application of wobs is going on all over Europe.

EU-wob threatened

BRUSSELS -  25. May 2007 - The EU-wob is under threat of being rolled back, if core points of a green paper published by the European Commission are carried out, experts claim. The green paper is in a hearing period until mid-July.