Recurrent: Hipodromo de la Zarzuela SA, SME

Recurred resolution: R/0460/2022

In exercise of the right of access to public information, a request for access was submitted to the Hippodrome of Madrid, S.A., S.M.E., para obtener información sobre un contrato celebrado entre la Asociación de Hipódromos Españoles y Telefónica Broadcast Services S.L.U. for the broadcast of the horse races held at the Zarzuela Racecourse. A copy of this contract is requested, questions are asked about the financial compensation fixed between the parties, about other particular conditions of the contract such as the duration or commissions fixed, and, finally, information is requested about whether any public tender has been made for the assignment of image rights.

The requested entity provides information on the last point of the request and denies access to the rest, considering that it is information that has been prepared or generated by other entities in respect of which its subjection to the subjective scope of application of the Law is not accredited, although it points out that, nevertheless, it transferred the request to those entities without having obtained a positive response from any of them. Subsequently, in the processing of claims in this proceeding, the cause of inadmissibility of Article 18.1 (c) LTAIBG and the limits of Article 14 (h), (j) and (k) LTAIBG are also invoked.

In its resolution, the Council of Transparency and Good Governance estimates the claim, considering that both the Association of Horse Racing Organising Societies in Spain and the Hippodrome de la Zarzuela, S.A, S.M.E., are fully subject to the scope of application of the LTAIBG and, therefore, subject to both the obligations of active publicity and the right of access to public information.

With regard to the application of the cause of non-admission of Article 18.1.c) LTAIBG, the Council considers that the justification for it is insufficient, since the assertion that the information requested would involve an analysis, processing, valuation, etc. in order to proceed with the preparation of the information, all actions that would involve an arduous exegesis that exceeds the scope of transparency have no basis in justifying the concurrence of a reworking within the meaning of the LTAIBG when the information requested relates to a single contract and most of it would be provided with the mere delivery of the same.

Finally, and in relation to the concurrence of the limits to access alleged, the entity claimed is limited to the mere invocation of the same, without performing the mandatory tests of the damage and the public interest and without minimally justifying what is the real and effective damage that the disclosure of the information would cause to the legal assets protected by the limits invoked. This absolute lack of justification of the limits invoked is, in the Council ' s view, sufficient reason to dismiss the claim to apply them to the present case.

Although it is true that in this type of case it is permitted to exempt, with due justification, those data or information that are confidential because they affect the economic or commercial interests of third parties, to which claims have to be processed in accordance with the provisions of article 19.3 LTAIBG, however, in this case, no restriction can be established since the only third party affected, Telefónica Broadcast Services S.L.U., did not formulate any reservation in the procedure granted for that purpose.