The bodies guaranteeing public transparency in Spain expose in the XI CIT the challenges and challenges they face

Moderated the session, which took place on Monday, the president of the Council of Transparency and Good Government, Concepción Campos Acuña, who pointed out the current “bittersweet moment”, in which the complaints filed with the bodies guaranteeing transparency have increased exponentially, which reflects greater knowledge and exercise of the right by the citizens, but this increase has not been accompanied by greater means for the guarantee agencies to carry out their work effectively.

The Deputy Director General of State Claims participated in the session by the CTBG, Isabel Jiménez Plaza, which also highlighted the huge increase in the number of complaints in 2025 and so far this year (60% more in the first half compared to the same period last year), and highlighted the recent judgments of the Supreme Court in favour of transparency of remuneration in the public sector issued as a result of appeals filed by the Council.

For his part, the Deputy Director General of Claims of Autonomous Communities and Local Entities of the Council, José Manuel Jover Lorente, referred to “the scourge of administrative silence” in response to requests for public information. “We have to do a lot of pedagogy and help so that this does not happen, especially at the local level,” he said.

In the session they intervened Iolanda Pineda Balló, president of the Committee for the Guarantee of the Right of Access to Public Information of Catalonia (GAIP), Andrés Lago Louro, president of the Advisory Council of Galicia and Commissioner for Transparency of Galicia, Jesús Jiménez López, director of the Transparency and Data Protection Council of Andalusia, Natalia Sánchez López, Commissioner for Transparency of the Region of Murcia, Fernando Muñoz Jiménez, president of the Regional Council for Transparency and Good Governance of Castilla-La Mancha, Noelia García Leal, Transparency Commissioner of the Canary Islands, Itziar Ayerdi Fernández de Barrena, member of the Transparency Council of Navarre, Jesús María González García, President of the Transparency and Data Protection Council of the Community of Madrid and Rubén García López, Secretary of the Transparency Commission of the Transparency Commissioner of Castilla y León.

The different councils and commissioners presented the most relevant of the activity carried out during the last year and presented initiatives and projects to improve their function and advance the right of access, as guidance guides for the subjects obligated on different aspects or interpretative criteria to help a correct application of the regulations.

The objective is that fewer complaints arrive because the Administration responds to requests for information on time. Most of the complaints, as was evident, are filed by administrative silence, especially at the local level, which even motivates eight out of ten complaints in some CC.AA.

Therefore, the guarantor bodies agree that we must promote training in transparency aimed at managers and public employees and promote active advertising, so that the Administration publishes in an understandable and reusable way the information demanded by citizens, betting on transparency from the design. It is also necessary to help fulfill their legal obligations in this matter to administrations and entities with fewer resources, such as small municipalities. Some councils have shared initiatives that they are promoting in this regard, often in collaboration with other entities.

Because, as the president of the CTBG pointed out, “transparency is not an end, it is an instrumental means for citizens to make a real scrutiny of the public service. And it should not be seen as an administrative burden, but as a priority on the political and public employees’ agenda.”

The chair of the CTBG advocated harnessing the potential of AI and technology both to improve compliance with transparency regulations by mandated subjects and the procedures and assurance work performed by boards and commissioners.

The lack of coercive powers in most of the councils and commissioners, which makes it difficult to guarantee compliance with the resolutions, and the need to protect the independence of the authorities for control and supervision of transparency were other ideas pointed out during the interventions.

The importance of horizontal collaboration between the guarantor bodies was also highlighted, and the role of COTAI (Conference of Guarantor Bodies for Transparency and Access to Information), whose annual rotating presidency is currently held by the Commission for the Guarantee of the Right of Access to Public Information of Catalonia (GAIP), has been highlighted.

The meeting, organized by the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Center for Transparency Research and Open Government, brought together more than 350 academics, public managers and employees, information professionals and civil society organizations who for two days shared experiences, studies and knowledge to find answers to the main issues that affect transparency and the quality of the democratic state and the rule of law.

The CTBG is one of the collaborating entities of the congress, which, in this edition, has focused, among other topics, on the intersection between security and transparency and on the impact of artificial intelligence and other technologies on the right of people to know.

In addition, #CIT2026 has been opened to the Latin American community with a parallel celebration at the Central University of Chile.