03/10/2008 Session
PACE today welcomed the draft Council of Europe Convention on access to official documents as the first binding international treaty to lay down a general right of access to official documents.
Nevertheless, the Assembly considered that the draft had shortcomings and therefore recommended that the Committee of Ministers send it back to the Steering Committee on Human Rights for further consideration. In particular, with regard to broadening the definition of “public authorities” to include a wider range of activities of public authorities and hence widening the scope of the information made available, including a time limit on the handling of requests and finally, adding a paragraph to prevent the introduction of reservations to this convention by member states when signing it.