In this meeting, thirty experts analyzed the path traveled in this decade of validity of the norm, the achievements obtained and the current and future challenges in this matter. The event was also intended to recognize and pay tribute to the people and institutions that have contributed to developing and strengthening public transparency in our country, including the remembered first president of the CTBG, Esther Arizmendi.

The day, held at the headquarters of the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) in Madrid, was attended by heads of different administrations, the highest representatives of the bodies guaranteeing transparency of various autonomous communities, members of the judiciary, specialists in administrative law, associations of journalists and representatives of civil society organizations.

The forum was opened by the Secretary of the Council of the National Commission of Markets and Competition, Miguel Bordiu García-Ovies; the President of the CTBG, José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez; and the Secretary of State for Public Service, Lidia Sánchez Milan.

The seven round tables recalled the genesis of the transparency law; presented the first years of the work of the bodies that guarantee transparency; analyzed the contributions of jurisprudence in this matter; studied the perspective of initiatives emerging from civil society for the promotion of transparency; and raised the current and future challenges of guaranteeing the right of access to public information, among other issues. The full programme of the day can be consulted here.

In the round table Genesis and approval of the LTAIBG, moderated by Teresa Ruiz-Sillero Bernal, senator and member of the Committee on Transparency and Good Governance, participated Manuel Sánchez de Diego, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid; José Luis Ayllón Manso, former Secretary of State for relations with the Courts; and Jordi Jané i Guasch, former deputy of the parliamentary group of CiU, all relevant actors in the process of elaboration and approval of the Law.

The implementation and early performance of the bodies that ensure transparency was analyzed in the round table entitled The first years of action of the guarantor bodies that, moderated by Agustín Puente Escobar, former director of the Legal Cabinet of the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) and former spokesperson of the Transparency and Good Government Commission, was attended by Javier Amorós Dorda, former president by vacancy of the CTBG; Elisabet Samarra i Gallego, former president of the Committee on Transparency and Public Access Law (AICTP).

The round table The implementation of Transparency by the obligated subjects, moderated by the General Assistant Director of Transparency and Good Government of the CTBG, Ana Caballlud Hernando, brought together Eloisa Paredes Bordegé, Deputy Director General of Transparency and Citizen Attention (Ministry of Finance and Public Function) and member of the Transparency and Good Government Commission; Ángel San Gregorio Marinas, Director General of Citizen Attention and Transparency of the Community of Madrid; and Joaquín Meseguer Yebra, Public Access Group coordinator.

The point of view of communication professionals and organizations working in favor of transparency was addressed at the table Experiences from civil society, in which Helen Darbishire, executive director of Access Info, Elisa de la Nuez, general secretary of the Hay Derecho Foundation, Miguel Ángel Noceda, president of the Federation of Journalists’ Associations of Spain (FAPE), and Nacho Calle Fernández, general secretary of the Association of Investigative Journalists, spoke. The debate was moderated by José Manuel Sánchez-Saudinós, a member of the Committee on Transparency and Good Governance.

The judicial bodies’ interpretation of the transparency regulation was the subject of the Jurisprudential Contributions Table, moderated by Diego Pérez Martínez, director of the Institutional Legal Division of the Independent Authority of Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) and member of the Transparency and Good Governance Commission, and which featured the contributions of Isabel Perelló Doménech, judge of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court and José Guerrero Zaplana, president of the Seventh Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the National High Court.

Elisenda Malaret García, Severiano Fernández Ramos, Emilio Guichot Reina and Isaac Martín Delgado, professors of administrative law at the universities of Barcelona, Cádiz, Sevilla, and Castilla-La Mancha, respectively, offered their perspective at the table The analysis of the experts, moderated by Isabel Fernández Torres, advisor to the Court of Auditors and member of the Transparency and Good Government Commission.

The day closed a session on the current and future challenges of guaranteeing the right of access to public information, in which participated José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, president of the CTBG; Iolanda Pineda Balló, president of the GAIP of Catalonia; Jesús Jiménez López, director of the CTPD of Andalusia; and Ricardo García Macho, president of the Transparency Council of the Valencian Community.