By decision no. 3858 of 10 June 2013 on administrative case no. 739/2013 (in Bulgarian), the Administrative Court – Sofia City repealed a refusal by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works to provide information on OLAF’s final report on the possible irregularities in the execution of the project “Water’s way,” co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Cross Border Cooperation Programme Romania - Bulgaria 2007-2013.
The ministry had refused access with the argument that this information related to the preparatory work on the bodies’ acts and had no significance in itself. The court held that the refusal had not specified the final acts for the preparation of which the information had been used, therefore the stakeholders had no way of obtaining information on the content of the report. The decision also stated that the findings of the report cannot be modified by the authority to whom they were sent. They have significance in themselves and access to them should be provided.