El Meeting of Guarantor Bodies of Transparency which has been held in Toledo the days 20 and 21 May concluded with the constitution of the Conference of Guarantor Bodies of Transparency and the Right of Access to Public Information (COTAI). Thus one is born New entity for collaboration and horizontal cooperation between the various guarantor bodies whose purpose is to contribute to strengthening transparency and guaranteeing the right of access to public information at the various levels of the State through joint actions.

In order to achieve these goals, the Conference intends, among other activities, to promote the Exchange of experiences and good practices among its members, perform Studies and reports on matters affecting the right of access to public information and transparency, drawing up information and communication documents awareness citizen, promote actions oriented to fostering a culture of public transparency, design strategic lines of training addressed to the obligated subjects, promote criteria transparency compliance assessment shares and adopt common positions on issues of particular relevance.

The proposal for creation was presented by the President of the Council, José Luis Rodríguez Álvarez, together with a draft regulation to regulate its nature, purposes, composition, activities and operation. After appropriate deliberation and the incorporation of the valuable contributions of the representatives of the other bodies, the rules of procedure were adopted unanimously and the establishment of the Conference was then agreed.

COTAI, together with the State Transparency Council, will integrate the guarantor bodies of the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Madrid, Valencia, Foral de Navarra, Galicia, the Basque Country and the Region of Murcia.

La Presidency will be annual and rotating according to a predetermined schedule. In the constitutive session itself it was agreed that the first presidency is assumed by the head of the Regional Council for Transparency and Good Governance of Castilla-La Mancha. On January 1, 2026, the Commission for the Guarantee of the Right of Access to Public Information (GAIP) of Catalonia will take over for one year. They will be succeeded by the Commissioner for Transparency and Access to Public Information of the Canary Islands (in 2027) and the Commissioner for Transparency of the Region of Murcia (in 2028).

Rodríguez Álvarez Yesterday, at the closing of the meeting held at the headquarters of the Cortes de Castilla-La Mancha, he stressed the importance of having jointly established this stable platform of cooperation that will contribute to mutually strengthening the various guarantor bodies and, at the same time, to strengthening the right of citizens to access public information to meet the demands of transparency and accountability, “which are becoming increasingly important in the context of advanced democratic societies such as ours.”

For its part, Fernando Muñoz Jiménez, president of the Regional Council of Transparency of Castilla-La Mancha, organizing institution of the meeting, celebrated having reached this agreement in Toledo, city of the three cultures and highlighted the “atmosphere of cooperation and mutual learning” of this appointment of the guarantor bodies, which marks “the beginning of a path” that they have decided to travel together because “transparency is a right that we must promote and also protect”.