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What you need to know to claim

If you have made a request for public information to the Administration and have been denied it, you are not satisfied with what they have answered or you have not received a response, you can file a complaint with this Council of Transparency and Good Governance, an independent body that will be responsible for deciding whether, according to the law of transparency, they should provide you with the information.

The claim is, therefore, one request that you make to the Transparency Council to review the Administration's decision on your request for information.

This claim before the Council is optional for you and has no financial cost. You can also go directly to the courts, filing a judicial appeal without first complaining to the Council.

Yes, always.

In any case, when it comes to complaining, it is advisable to value the fundamentals in which the Administration has motivated in its response the causes to dismiss (deny) or to partially estimate (accept) your request for information.

Everyone has the right to access public information. And therefore, everyone has the right to complain If they feel that this right has been violated, whether natural or legal persons, Spanish or foreign.

  • If you have been answered from the Transparency Portal of the General State Administrationyou have got one month from the day after you have been notified of your response to submit the complaint to the Board.
  • After more than a month you have not received an answer (so you must understand that your request has been rejected, that is, denied, by administrative silence), you can also claim. In that case, You can do it at any time, there is no time limit to file the claim.
  • If the claim relates to a request for information addressed to a City Council, Council or Public Body of your Autonomous Community, Consult the legislation of your community, as some have shorter deadlines.

  • If the request for information has been made to a State Ministry or Public Sector Agency, the claim must be presented before this Transparency Council, and we will solve it.
  • If you made the request before A city council, another local entity or a regional administration, depends: This State Transparency Council is competent to resolve complaints only if the Autonomous Community has conferred on it by agreement the exercise of this function.

These are the autonomous communities on which we resolve claims:

Principality of Asturias

Balearic Islands

Cantabria

Extremadura

La Rioja

Ceuta

Melilla

So, if your request was addressed to a council or city council of another autonomous community, you must submit the claim to the corresponding autonomous body in terms of transparency, which you can consult Transparency in the autonomous communities.

If you wish to file a complaint with the Transparency and Good Governance Council, The easiest and most agile way is through our electronic headquarters. This way you will also have easy access to your files and you will receive communications quickly.

To do this, you need to have an electronic certificate or Cl@ve. If you do not have these identification systems, we recommend that you obtain them to benefit from all the advantages of e-government. you can ask for electronic certificate Electronic Certificate of Citizen and Cl@ve.

If you do not have an electronic certificate or Cl@ve, you can submit the claims and other written documents addressed to the Board by the following: alternative waterways:

  • by postal mail, enviando una carta a c/ José Abascal, 2 - 5ª Planta. 28003. Madrid.

If you do not use the electronic office and you are going to present the claim through one of the alternative channels indicated, you can use the form corresponding.

In the Council of Transparency and Good Governance we have a Citizen Care Unit To solve all your doubts:

  • in person at our headquarters (C/ José Abascal, 2, 5th Floor. 28003 of Madrid)
  • telephonically in the numbers 91 273 33 03 / 08 / 24
  • by email: ctbg@consejodetransparencia.es

Check out all the ways you can address yourself to us.

No., the filing of a complaint with this Transparency Council is completely free.

We will respond to you within a maximum period of three months and our decision will be binding on the Administration.

If you do not agree with the resolution we make in the Council responding to your claim, You can file a dispute/administrative appeal before the National High Court. You have a period of two months from the day after we notify you of our resolution. You should keep in mind that filing a judicial appeal requires a lawyer and a solicitor.

In this case It will be the public body against which you have appealed that will be able to file a dispute–administrative appeal and the Council will defend its decision before the Courts, assuming the corresponding costs.

You will be able to personalize yourself if you want in the judicial procedure, although the Council of Transparency and Good Governance will ensure your right to public information.