Kiril Karaivanov vs. Ministry of Finance

Facts:
On 21 May 2001, Mr. Karaivanov served an application in writing to obtain access to a copy of an audit statement of a single-member limited liability company to the Minister of Finance. After he received notice in writing (19 December 2000) with a refusal to grant him access to the requested copy of the audit statement, Mr. Karaivanov appealed. The application was served to the Minister of Finance, while the refusal was signed by the Director of the State Internal Financial Control Agency.
The appeal was served to SAC. The case was heard at 2 p.m. on 13 November 2001.

The 5th Division of SAC issued a Ruling to repeal the ruling on the case to proceed with hearings on merit, dismissed the appeal, dropped the case and referred the case to the Sofia City Court as the competent jurisdiction. A private appeal was served with the statutory time limits (19 June 2001) and a five-member panel of SAC is expected to rule.

Arguments of the Parties:
The arguments of the applicant come first. The refusal to grant access to information was based on misinterpretation of the provisions of Art. 13, para 2, subpara 1 of APIA because the meaning of the word "may" is to enable the person responsible for ensuring access to act under the conditions of operational independence, while taking into consideration the specific legal and factual situation, i.e. to carefully strike a proper balance between the right of every citizens of access to information on the one hand and the existence of another protected right or interest on the other hand.

The legal grounds for the refusal were specified as ensuing from Art. 3, para 4 of the State Internal Financial Control Act and Art. 13, para 2, subpara 1 of APIA.

Important Issue:
Interpretation of Art. 13, para 2, subpara 1 of APIA

Conclusions:
The misinterpretation of the statutory provisions lead to non-performance on part of the person responsible for ensuring access to information. This is indicative of the need for more serious training of the public administration with regard to its powers.