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Cases 2019

CASES REFERRED TO AIP FOR LEGAL ADVICE AND CONSULTATION DURING 2019

In 2019, the AIP legal team continued to provide legal aid to citizens, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and journalists, supporting the appeal in court on cases of denial of access to information. In 2019, the legal team of AIP has prepared a total of 69 complaints and written defenses to assist information seekers (33 - in cases of citizens, 8 - of NGOs, 25 - of journalists, 2- of companies and 1 case of a political party).

In 2019, the AIP legal team prepared 46 complaints. First instance appeals - 35 (Administrative Court Sofia-City - 21 and Administrative Courts in the country - 14); cassation appeals - 4 and private appeals - 7.

Of the 35 first-instance complaints prepared, 25 were against an explicit refusal to provide access to information and 10 were against tacit refusals.
In 2019, in 71 cases, AIP provided procedural representation in court cases against refusals to provide information. During this period, the legal team of AIP prepared 23written defenses in cases conducted with the support of the organization.

During the period, 90 court acts were issued (67 decisions and 23 rulings) in cases conducted with the support of AIP (Supreme Administrative Court - 45, Administrative Court Sofia-City - 32, Administrative courts in the country - 12 and Administrative Court Sofia- Area - 1).

The court ruled in favor of information seekers in 72 cases, and in 28 cases in favor of the administration.

The review of the issued judicial acts shows that on a number of controversial issues there is a lasting and consistent case law in favor of the right to information and transparency:

1. A commercial company, whose capital (50% and more) is owned by the state or the municipalities, is an obliged body under the APIA;
2. The written reference is a legal form for providing information under the APIA. When the requested information is available at the notified body, the fact that certain data do not exist in aggregated form and thus should be synthesized in view of the request, cannot justify a lawful refusal.
3. The information related to specific administrative proceedings (including those under the Law on Territory Planning) is public and may be obtained under the APIA, when the requestor is not an interested party within the meaning of the relevant law;
4. The disagreement of a third party concerned may not justify a refusal to provide information in cases when there is an overriding public interest in its disclosure;
5. The disagreement of a third party concerned is irrelevant when the party in question is an obliged body under the APIA;
6. It is inadmissible for the body to exclude the effect of the rebuttable legal presumption for the existence of an overriding public interest, without providing any proper justification;
7. The restriction under Art. 13, para. 2, item 1 of the APIA, related to preparatory documents with no significance of their own, is inapplicable when there is no final act from which the applicant can form an opinion on the issue of interest to him;
8. The restriction under art. 13, para. 2, item 1 of the APIA, related to preparatory documents, whith no significance of their own, is inapplicable when the requestor is searching for environmental information. In these cases, the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act apply, which is special with regard to the APIA and does not provide for such a restriction;
9. Reference to administrative secret under Art. 26, para. 1 of the Law on Protection of Classified Information does not substantiate the existence of refusal grounds in cases when the obliged body has not published a list of "official secret" categories, within which the requested information falls, nor has proved the marking of the same with a security stamp;
10. Tacit refusal under the APIA is always illegal, as there is an imperative legal provision, which requires and obliges the APIA obliged bodies to rule in writing on the applications for access to public information.

Among the more significant cases in 2019 were the following:

Two cases of the Environmental Association "Za Zemiata - Access to Justice" against the refusal of the Executive Environment Agency (EEA) to provide information on the average hourly values /24 pieces per day/ of fine dust particles /PM10 and PM2.5/ in Sofia for various periods of time, which led to a change in the practice of the institutions and to a smooth provision of such information at the moment;
The case of National Network for Children Association against the Ministry of Health (MH), thanks to which information was received about the closure of the Children's Treatment Fund Center and its transfer to the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF);
The two cases won by Rossen Bossev from the Capital newspaper against the refusal of the EEA to provide information on the import of waste in Bulgaria;
The case of Svetlozar Alexiev from Sofia, thanks to which information was received from the Sofia Municipality (SM) about the penalties imposed on the company that repaired the central Graf Ignatiev Street.
Also of great importance were the cases related to the transparency of the legislative process, namely the case of Krasen Nikolov from Mediapool online newspaper against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for access to information related to the draft amendment to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act. It proposed an amendment in the Electoral Code, which introduces a 3-month stay for voting in parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as the case of the Transparency International Association against the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for access to the opinions of the bodies involved in the conciliation procedure of the draft Law on Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property.

It is also important to note that with amendments to Art. 40 of the APIA (in force since 01.01.2019) a new paragraph 3 was introduced, according to which the decision of the administrative court in cases for access to information is not subject to cassation appeal. Thus, the cassation instance in cases for access to information was dropped. In this regard, all decisions rendered by the SAC in 2019 as a cassation instance were on cassation appeals filed in 2017 and 2018.

The Most Frequently Sought Information in 2019

In 2019, our team provided legal aid on cases related to disclosure of information in different areas of public life in Bulgaria. The information most commonly sought was in the following areas:

Urban Planning and Road Infrastructure

Request to the Mayor of Varna Municipality for access to the investment project for the construction of “Narodni Buditeli” blvd.;
Request to the Mayor of Sliven Municipality for access to the building permits issued in the period of a month, as well as copies of those building permits;
Request to the Mayor of Sliven Municipality for access to a building permission issued to a specific company for a reconstruction of a building in Sliven;
Request to Sofia City’s Chief Architect for access to information on a project to change the purpose of a building ("Boyana Church - Old Boyana School") from a museum to a kindergarten for two groups;
Request to the Mayor of Sliven Municipality for access to the geodetic surveying, the inspection report and the names of inspecting officers on a case related to the reconstruction of a building in the town of Sliven;
Request to the Mayor of Triaditsa District in Sofia for access to the schemes for mobile facilities in the South Park;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to all projects related to the permanent traffic organization, agreed upon by the Municipality’s Transport Committee;
Request to the Mayor of the Sozopol Municipality for access to the building permit issued for construction in the “Kolokita” protected area;
Request to the Mayor of Sliven Municipality for access to the specialized map for spatial planning of Vartopo Park, Studentski and Mladost Districts;
Request to the Mayor of Ovcha Kupel District in Sofia for access to information in relation to the removal of a fence and the installation of a new one on the territory of 53 Secondary School Nikolay Hrelkov in the district of Gorna Banya;
Request to the Mayor of Stara Zagora Municipality for access to information on the new detailed plan of the “Ayazmo Park”;
Request to the Mayor of Kyustendil Municipality for access to the building permits for the construction and installation of mobile facilities in the town;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on the planned and completed street repairs in several municipal districts;
Request to the Mayor of Yambol Municipality for access to a report on a constructive survey of the “Bezistena” cultural monument;
Request to the Mayor of Blagoevgrad Municipality for access to documents on the building of a mineral water supply system for the Pirin Sports Complex, the Elenovo District and the Ezerets Hotel;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on long-lasting repair works of a central commercial street’s sidewalk;
Request to the Mayor of Pernik Municipality for access to information on the real estate tax paid by CEZ Distribution Bulgaria AD on the territory of the Municipality as well as information on the ownership of the electricity transmission poles.

Information concerning Inspections and Control Activities

Request to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) for all registered signals for irregularities in the Register of Received Signals and Identified Irregularities, maintained by the Managing Authority of Operative Programme "Human Resources Development" 2014-2020;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on the fines imposed and collected by the Municipality for the year 2015 and for two months in 2018 under the Ordinance for advertising activity of the Municipality;
Request to the Customs Agency for access to information on the export of Bulgarian cigarettes to the United Arab Emirates;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to all documents proving that the construction supervision body in charge of the repair of the central Graf Ignatiev Street has been sanctioned with one hundred thousand levs by the Municipality;
Request to the Ministry of Interior for access to information on the arrest of 7 Turkish citizens and their transfer to Turkey;
Request to the National Revenue Agency for access to the results of audits of Neftochim Lukoil Burgas AD in the period 2010 - 2017;
Request to the Agency for social assistance for access to the results of an audit carried out at the Social Assistance Directorate in Gabrovo;
Request to the Committee for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property for access to information on the action taken by the Committee in several specifically mentioned and publicly known cases of prosecuted persons who are currently occupying public posts (or who have been occupying such in the past);
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on the implementation of a penal decree issued by the Municipality to a legal entity in relation of a placement of a movable object on public municipal grounds without permission;
Request to the Directorate for National Construction Control (DNCC) for access to the names of two employees who have been disciplinary punished by the DNCC for their inaction during the closure of a site on the first level of an underground parking lot above the metro station "Vasil Levski Stadium" in Sofia;Request to the National Revenue Agency for access to the criteria by which the Agency determines which taxes are uncollectible;
Request to the Committee for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property on whether a decision was issued to terminate the proceedings against a specific person;
Request to the Committee for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property for access to information on how many times since its establishment on January 19, 2018 until now the Commission referred to various appointment bodies signals for persons holding public positions that do not fall within its powers;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on the control actions of the Municipality carried out over a specific site in the South Park, against which a number of signals have been submitted;.

Information regarding Public Expenditure

Request to the Mayor of Bozhurishte Municipality for access to information on the lawsuits against the Municipality in the last 10 years and the relevant expenses;
Request to the Mayor of Lovech Municipality for access to information on the amounts paid under civil contracts for 2018;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia for access to documents related to the recovery of public debts which was assigned by the Municipality to private bailiffs;
Request to the Commission for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property for access to information on the compensations paid by the Law on Commission in lawsuits under the State Liability in Damages for Breach of Community;
Request to the Agricultural State Fund for access to information on the classification of municipal projects under sub-measure 7.2 "Investments in the creation, improvement or expansion of all types of small-scale infrastructure" of measure 7 "Basic services and renovation of villages and rural areas" of the Rural Development Program 2014-2020;
Request to the Mayor of Silistra Municipality for access to information on landscaping costs;
Request to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for access to information on the financing of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) for competitions and camps of national teams;
Request to the Customs Agency for access to documents related to the lease of a property in Pazardzhik, where the customs terminal was moved to;
Request to the Ministry of Defence for access to all orders made by the Ministry and its subordinate structures for the delivery of food and beverages in the period 01.08.2015 - 31.10.2018, including supplier, date of the request, date of delivery and value of the delivered products;
Request to the Mayor of Plovdiv Municipality for access to information on the remunerations received from the Executive Director and the Artistic Director of the Municipal Foundation "Plovdiv 2019" in relation to Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture - 2019;
Request to the Commission for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property for access to information on the expenses incurred during the inspection of the property of Tsvetan Vasilev and his family (Bulgarian banker in exile, related to the Corporate Commercial Bank collapse in 2014 and the subsequent financial crisis in Bulgaria);
Request to the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) for access to information on municipal liabilities to be paid to construction companies that have been transferred to a BDB purchase program;
Request to the Mayor of Smolyan Municipality for access to information on the Municipality's monthly public obligations in the period 01.10.2018 - 01.06.2019;
Request to the Mayor of Sevlievo for access to information on all payments made by the Municipality in relation to the “Holidays of Sevlievo” event 2019;
Request to the Mayor of Stara Zagora for access to the contracts concluded between the Municipality and media companies.

Management and disposition of state and municipal property

Request to the Ministry of Economics for access to information regarding the amount of money that in 2009 and 2010 was deposited by state bodies and enterprises operating under the Ministry’s authority, and in which banks were the deposits made;
Request to the Mayor of Smolyan Municipality for access to information on the persons accommodated in municipal housing;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to documents related to the exposition “Living Dinosaurs” in the “G.S. Rakovski” Military Academy Park.

Environmental Information

Request to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters - Pernik for access to information on the atmospheric air quality;
Request to Mayor of Aksakovo Municipality for access to information on the waste transported from a Varna-based company to the regulated landfill in the village of Vaglen, part of Aksakovo Municipality;
Request to the Bulgarian Agency for Food Safety for access to the number of dog shelters in the country and the number of adopted dogs in the last 3 years;
Request to the Environmental Executive Agency for access to the measurements of average hourly values of air pollution made by measuring stations in Sofia in different periods of time;
Request to the Mayor of Haskovo Municipality for access to information on an action for collection, castration and marking of stray dogs;
Request to the Bulgarian Agency for Food Safety for access to information on the operation of animal carcass incineration plants;
Request to the Mayor of Svoge for access to information on the execution of a programme that aims at limiting of stray dogs population;
Request to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters - Sofia for access to the results from the atmospheric air quality measurements in thermal power plants in Sofia;
Request to the Bulgarian Agency for Food Safety for access to information on the control of mink farms;
Request to the Ministry of Environment and Waters for access to the Management Plan of Strandzha Nature Park;
Request to Sredets Municipality for access to information on the activities related to the environmental protection project under the Bulgaria-Turkey cross-border cooperation program;
Request to Sredets Municipality for access to information on the felling of long-lasting decorative trees, part of the town’s landscape system;
Request to Sofia Municipality for access to documents from the project for a waste incineration plant at the “Toplofikatsia Sofia” Central Heating Company;
Request to the Executive Environment Agency for access to all forms for waste import in Bulgaria, submitted in the Agency in 2017 and 2018.

Transparent and accountable public administration

Request to Sofia Municipality for access to the legal and administrative acts it has issued;
Request to the Commission for Combating Corruption and the Withdrawal of Illegally Acquired Property for access to the orders (adopted in 2013) for applying the Act on Forfeiture in favour of the State of Illegally acquired Assets of Bulgaria;
Request to the Agency for Social Assistance for access to the declaration of interests of a former employee in the Agency who was the only candidate in the selection procedure for a director of the National Social Security Institute;
Request to the Mayor of Blagoevgrad Municipality for access to the official document that governs the organization of the exchange of documents in the Municipality;
Request to the National Assembly for access to information on the absences of the deputies;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to all orders issued by the Mayor in September 2017;
Request to Sofia Municipality’s Interior Directorate for access to information related to the due unpaid annual leave and to the overtime hours worked by the Ministry’s employees;
Request to the Ministry of Justice for access to information on a competition for notaries;
Request to the Ministry of Interior for access to the instruction document setting forth the rules for the organization of its Registry’s work and for the protection of classified information within the Ministry;
Request to the Mayor of Pernik Municipality for access to information on the increased number of address registrations in the village of Studena just before local elections;
Request to the “Road Infrastructure” State Agency for access to the number of e-vignettes sold online.

Decision Making Process

Request to the Regional Education Inspectorate Sofia-City for access to information on the unscheduled admission of too many students at the Sofia Mathematical High School for the 2018/2019 academic year;
Request to the Ministry of Culture for access to information on the choice of a project that will represent the Republic of Bulgaria at the Venice Biennale of Art in 2019;
Request to the Mayor of Sofia Municipality for access to information on the number of children placed in kindergartens and nurseries and identified as “chronically ill” in each of the districts in Sofia City;
Request to the Ministry of Health for access to information on the closure of the Center Fund for Treatment of Children and its allocation within the structure of the National Health Insurance Fund;
Request to the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) for access to a letter by the Bulgarian Shooting Union to the MYS related to the update of the list of Olympic medalists in the “shooting” category who are no longer active in sports;
Request to the Ministry of Justice for access to the project for a law amending and supplementing some legislative acts in relation to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act. Under this Act (after a proposal by President Rumen Radev) an amendment was introduced to the Electoral Code whereby a 3-month settled status is introduced for voting on parliamentary and presidential elections;
Request to the Ministry of Justice for access to the opinions of public authorities which have participated in a conciliation procedure on the discussion of amendments in the Act on Forfeiture in favour of the State of Illegally acquired Assets of Bulgaria;
Request to the Ministry of Defence for access to documents indicating the results from the activity of a working group in relation to a new type of a fighter plane;

Activity of Public-law bodies and organizations

Request to the National Arts Gallery for access to information on the price of art works purchased and received in the last 10 years;
Request to the National Electric Company for access to the Cold reserve contracts before 2013;
Request to a Sofia City kindergarten for access to information on the number of chronically ill accepted in it for a specific period;
Request to "Water Supply and Sewerage - Sliven" OOD for information about the drinking water supply in Sliven region;
Request to the Urban Mobility Centre for access to protocols from Board of Directors’ meetings;
Request to Port of Varna EAD for access to information on a public procurement for the purchase of a forklift;
Request to the University in Veliko Tarnovo for access to information on an employment competition for the position of "assistant";
Request to the Municipal Hospital in Sevlievo for access to information on the remuneration of the Hospital’s Director;
Request to the National Library for access to information on the IT systems it uses.

Judiciary

Request to the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) for access to the minutes of a meeting of the SJC Inspectorate during which a proposal was discussed to institute disciplinary proceedings against the head of the Sofia Court of Appeal;
Request to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for access to information and documents about the checks made in relation to a scandalous case after a meeting between former Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov, gas sector businessman and newspaper publisher Sasho Donchev and businessman and ex-chair of Bulgarian Socialist Party Georgi Gergov;
Request to the Supreme Judicial Council for access to information on the non-joinders of judges on specific cases;
Request to the Appellation Prosecutor's Office - Plovdiv for access to the grounds for an extending of the term of the inspection on spendings for the opening event of Plovdiv - European Capital of Culture 2019;
Request to the Ministry of Justice for access to a copy of the Analysis of the application of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Penal Procedure Code and the Administrative Procedure Code that was prepared and issues by the Ministry of Justice within the implementation of the project "Effective access to justice", funded by the EU’s Operational Programme "Good Governance", presented on May 16, 2019;
Request to the Investigative Unit of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office for access to information on the court cases initiated on indictments filed by General Prosecutor Ivan Geshev;
Request to the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council for access to the documents issued on the closure of the inspection made in relation to the aforementioned Tsatsarov-Donchev meeting, as well as a copy of the entire shorthand transcript of the ISJC sitting during which the specific case was discussed and debated;
Request to the Sofia Military Court for access to information about a murder in Sofia’s district Belite Brezi in the early 1990s.

Personal Data

Request to the National Palace of Culture for access to the recordings of security cameras on the entrance of the building.