By decision[1] of 1 December 2014, the Administrative Court Sofia - City (ACSC) repealed a refusal by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to provide access to six market value assessments of real estate that the Ministry had dealt with. The information was requested by Alexander Dunchev from the WWF – World Wildlife Fund.
The administration had refused claiming that the valuations were not public information and their disclosure would violate the copyright of the independent appraisers who had prepared them.
According to the court the market valuations allow the requestor to assess on the one hand whether the Ministry has complied with the appraisers’ valuations and on the other – whether the valuations were prepared in accordance with the requirements of the State Property Act. The court noted the rights of the authors who prepared the valuations cannot prevent their provision under the APIA as the public interest in learning this information should also be taken in account.