Access to Information Programme | Court cases - Access to minutes from Council of Ministers sessions

Access to minutes from Council of Ministers sessions

Vassil Chobanov v. Government Information Center
Court case 1822/2003 of Sofia City Court, Administrative Panel ІІІ-Z

With an access to information request from Feb. 02, 2003 Vassil Chobanov, a Radio Free Europe journalist requested a copy from the minutes of a Council of Ministers meeting held on Jan. 23, 2003.

With a letter from Feb. 06, 2003 the director of the Government Information Center Tsvetelina Uzunova refused to provide access to the requested information with the motives that Council of Ministers minutes constituted administrative secret under Art. 76, para. 4 of the Rules for the work of the Council of Ministers and access to to them could be restricted under Art. 13 para. 2 item 1 of the Access to public Information Act. The same motives were used to withhold the minutes from the first meeting of the Council of Ministers, requested in 2001 by Alexei Lazarov, a journalist from Capital weekly.

The legal team of AIP prepared an appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court against the decision of the Government Information Center Director. With Ruling № 2600 from 20.03.2003 SAC stopped the court proceedings and decided that the case is under the jurisdiction of the Sofia City Court.

Ruling № 2600 was appealed before a five-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court. The five-member panel panel with a Ruling 4535/13.05.2003 confirmed the decision of the three-member panel and the file was forwarded to the Sofia City Court.

The first hearing of the SCC was held on Oct. 23, 2003 and a decision is expected.