Recurrent: Community of Irrigators of the Campo de Traslapuente

Resolution appealed: R CTBG 1331/2025

In exercise of the right of access to public information, the Community of Irrigators of the Campo de Traslapuente was requested to access the minutes of the General Boards (and recordings) and of the Government Board of 2022 and 2023 and census of owners of the Community of Irrigators.

The requested entity did not issue a ruling within the legally established time limit, and the claim procedure provided for in Article 24 LTAIBG was expedited. Subsequently, during the conduct of this procedure, the community of irrigators provides the Minutes of the General Meeting of 2022, since the Minutes of the General Meeting of May 2023 are already in the possession of the claimant (since only one session is held annually). It denies, however, access to the recording of that General Board, as well as access to the minutes of the boards of government of both years. It understands that it is a request without motivation and of legitimate interest, that it is a request disproportionate when requesting all the minutes, that its confidentiality must be guaranteed in accordance with the provisions of article 14.1.k) LTAIBG, and that it exceeds the scope of the right to public information that concerns the irrigation communities (irrigation policy and water distribution). As far as access to census data is concerned, it invokes personal data protection regulations to deny access.

The Council partially estimates the claim by pointing out that, since the entity to which the application is addressed is configured as a corporation under public law, in accordance with the provisions of Article 2.1(e) LTAIBG, the rule applies to the activities subject to administrative law, and it will therefore have the obligation to facilitate access to the parts of the records that correspond to the administrative functions of the Community of Irrigators. Likewise, the same condition is established for the copy of the recording of the meeting, with the deletion of those parts that deal solely with Community proprietary issues and excluding, where appropriate, the interventions of natural persons that are not part of the collegiate body and whose disclosure is not relevant for the purposes of control of the exercise of the public powers of the entity.

Finally, the request for access to the irrigation census is also estimated, since it is estimated that the requested data are closely related to the organization and functioning of the irrigation community. Therefore, even in the cases in which the requested information can be referred to identified or identifiable natural persons and, therefore, reviews the nature of personal data, as we are dealing with purely identifying data related to the organization, operation or public activity of the entity, according to the weighting carried out by the legislator in article 15.2 LTAIBG, access must be granted except in those specific cases in which exceptional circumstances concur that have not been invoked.