A Federal Ministry may not refuse an application for access to official information - in this case, in-house documents on a legislative procedure as well as statements to the Petitions Committee - on the grounds that the documents concern government activities. This was decided today by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
In the first case, the plaintiff requests access to documents of the Federal Ministry of Justice on the question of the need for reform of the law of parent and child. The reason for the investigations and considerations was a review order by the Federal Constitutional Court, which has since been settled by another decision of the Federal Constitutional Court. In the end, internal submissions for the minister were still in dispute. In the second case, the plaintiff demanded access to statements of the Federal Ministry of Justice which it had made to the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag in two petition procedures which had been concluded in the meantime. These petitions concerned questions going beyond the individual case on the rehabilitation of the victims of the so-called land and industrial reform in the former Soviet Zone. The petitioners invoke the Freedom of Information Act, which in principle grants everyone a right of access to official information vis-à-vis federal authorities.
The Federal Administrative Court upheld the decisions of the lower courts granting the actions and dismissed the appeals of the defendant Federal Republic. The Federal Ministry of Justice was one of the authorities obliged to provide information. A distinction between the administrative and the governmental actions of a ministry was not laid down in the law and was also not justified by the purpose of the law. It was also irrelevant that the Ministry fulfilled a constitutional obligation by issuing a statement to the Petitions Committee. The grounds for refusal set out in the law also did not preclude the applicants' claim. In particular, the Ministry could not invoke the protection of confidentiality of deliberations.
BVerwG 7 C 3.11 and 4.11 - Judgments of 3 November 2011
Previous instances:
BVerwG 7 C 3.11
OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, 12 B 6.10 - Judgment of October 5, 2010 -
VG Berlin, 2 A 109.08 - Judgment of December 17, 2009 -
BVerwG 7 C 4.11
OVG Berlin-Brandenburg, 12 B 13.10 - Judgment of October 5, 2010 -
VG Berlin, 2 K 98.09 - Judgment of April 22, 2010 -
Source: Press release of the Federal Constitutional Court
Goldberg Attorneys at Law
Lawyers Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
