The president of the Commission for the Guarantee of the Right of Access to Public Information (GAIP), Elisabet Samarra, has handed over to the Catalan Ombudsman the annual report on the activities of this body to guarantee access to information for 2016, in compliance with the provisions of article 44 of the Law 19/2014, of December 29, of transparència, access to public information and good governance (LTAIPBG). The Catalan Ombudsman has the power to evaluate the application of the LTAIPBG, in accordance with article 93.1, and it is within the framework of this function that the GAIP reports to him through the report.
The Report includes details of the activity carried out during 2016, the personal and material resources with which it was endowed, the procedural manuals prepared by the Commission and the metrics derived from the complaints received. It also details the doctrine that the GAIP has consolidated, knowing and resolving the complaints and queries that have been submitted to it.
Content of the report
During 2016, the Commission for the Guarantee of the Right of Access to Public Information experienced an exponential growth in the number of complaints lodged with the Commission. Thus, compared to the 37 complaints that were filed during the second half of 2015, in 2016 561 complaints were received. However, there are a significant number of complaints that, despite being filed in 2016, have been resolved during the first months of 2017. Exactly 369 complaints, of the 561 filed, were resolved during 2016 and the rest have been during the first months of 2017.
The complaint has served to provide access to information that the Administration had not previously provided in 73,2% of cases, either because the resolution of the GAIP is fully (26,06%) or partially (29,64%) of law; or because the parties have reached an agreement through the mediation procedure, in 6,69%, or because during the processing of the claim and as a result of the action of the GAIP the administration has delivered the information that was claimed ( 10,57%)
In 26,8% of the total number of completed procedures, therefore, the filing of the claim did not allow access to the public information requested, either by withdrawal of the action of the claimant (3,09%), or because it has been inadmissible for processing (17,01%), or because it has been resolved in a sense that rejects access (6,70%) of the total submitted.
The majority of claims filed in 2016 had as a taxable subject a local administration, or its sector (52%), followed by the Generalitat de Catalunya with 39% and other local bodies (provincial councils, county councils) with 7%.
As for the active subject, the complaints have been filed mostly by individuals (59%) and also highlights the use of the path of the claim by municipal groups in opposition in municipalities and provincial councils (32%) . Less significantly during 2016, trade unions (6%), foundations and organizations (3%) and journalists (1%) asserted their right to public information before the GAIP. In the first months of 2017, however, the latter groups are being more active in the use of this guarantee body which is the GAIP.
Regarding the information that has been most frequently the subject of complaints, it is worth mentioning the one relating to the remuneration of public personnel (30%) and the provision of public places (17%), followed by the information relating to public procurement (10%). %) and those related to urban planning files (7%) and the management of public resources (7%). Next, information on grants and agreements. Evolutionarily speaking, the interest in finding out about remuneration is declining, while the demand for information on public procurement has been growing in recent months.
The report contains a compilation of the most relevant doctrinal criteria established in the almost 400 resolutions issued and the Opinions issued by the GAIP following consultations by the administrations on the application of the regulations on access to public information.
