ABSTRACT

Claim against refusal of access to the previous proceedings of a sanctioning file

A citizen submitted a letter to the Ministry of the Interior requesting access to all the content or documents produced in the actions carried out for the practice of an Inspection Report.

The Administration denied access for several reasons: a) The requested documentation is not part of the file in accordance with the provisions of article 70.4 of the LPACAP, since it is an internal report. b) The applicant does not have the status of interested party in the procedure since, on the one hand, the disciplinary complaint does not confer such status and, on the other, the procedure itself would not have existed as such and c) Article 18.1 b) of Law 19/2019: auxiliary or support information.

The Council for Transparency and Good Governance considered the complaint in part, since the public interest in access to information is marked by its usefulness in knowing how decisions regarding the exercise of a regulated power such as disciplinary are taken by the corresponding administrative bodies, and, more specifically, how the decision is taken to file a complaint or initiate a sanctioning procedure, there being a special public interest in supervising those decisions that lead to the file, since if there is no instrument of control or accountability, a power that is not discretionary could end up acquiring discretionary character. However, it is not necessary to disclose the personal data contained in the reports, being sufficient to provide information relating to “the facts likely to motivate the initiation of the procedure” and “the relevant circumstances that concur”, together with the motivation on which the archiving decision is based.