Recurrent: Ministry of Defense

Recurred resolution: R/0470/2023

In exercise of the right of access to public information, a request was submitted to the Ministry of Defense for access to the copy of the exams of the selective processes for entry to the Rank of Officers of the Intendency Corps, from 2014 to 2022.

The requested body issued a decision denying access to the information requested because it considered that the cause of inadmissibility of article 18.1.e) LTAIBG was present, since it was an abusive and unjustified request for the purpose of transparency of the Law. Later, at the allegation stage in the claim procedure, he added the invocation of another cause of inadmissibility, that contained in article 18.1.c) LTAIBG.

The Council considers the claim by failing to assess the concurrence of any of the grounds for non-admission invoked. In relation to the first of these, it does not observe that the double requirement, determined by the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, of its abusive nature and of its lack of justification in the purpose of the law is met, since it is not considered that the request is an abuse of rights, nor is it a request external to the purposes of scrutiny of public activity of the Transparency Act. Regardless of the motivation of the claimant – who is not obliged to motivate their request – the truth is that access to this information allows us to understand how decisions are made in an area as relevant as access to jobs in public bodies, giving greater transparency to the selective processes.

As for the second cause of inadmissibility invoked, the requested body made a mere mention of it, without undertaking a minimum of argumental effort to support what reprocessing action was required to be performed. The Council therefore considers that no clear and sufficient justification has been provided for the concurrence in the specific case of the case in which it supports the non-admission of the application for access.