COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONVENTION ON ACCESS TO OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS (TROMSØ CONVENTION) RATIFIED
The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, at its 12th session held on August 13th, 2024, adopted the Law on Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents. With its adoption, the Republic of North Macedonia became the 16th country that has ratified this Convention.
The Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205), also known as the Tromsø Convention, was adopted on June 18th, 2009 in Tromsø, Norway, and entered into force on December 1st, 2020.
So far, the Convention has been ratified and entered into force in 15 countries: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine.
The Tromsø Convention is the first binding international legal instrument that recognizes the right of access to official documents held by public authorities of any legal or natural person, without discrimination and regardless of the status or motives of the requester when requesting access to public information. character.
All official documents are in principle public and may be exempted only in accordance with other rights and legitimate interests, specifically stated in the Convention, unless there is a protected public interest in publication.
The Tromsø Convention establishes minimum standards for prompt and fair processing of requests for access to official documents by the public authorities that hold the documents, as well as for internal administrative audits and appeals submitted to independent authorities or courts in the event of denial of access requests. to public information.
It is open to accession by any state that is not a member of the Council of Europe or any other international organization, under the requirements of Article 17 of the Convention.
The link to the Convention is below:
Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents
