Please, may I see the public document?

For example, getting property deeds, clinical information on a deceased parent, access to Government reports – or simply trying to uncover details for an academic thesis, or journalistic investigation in Portugal is no easy task.

The usual reply to these kinds of requests from public authorities is “it’s not possible”. But, more and more, there are those who won’t accept “no”, and seek answers from the system. How do they do this?

In Portugal, there exists an independent public body called the “Comissão de Acesso aos Documentos Administrativos” (the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents), abbreviated to CADA.

It works alongside the Assembleia da República (Parliament) and is there to ensure that citizens get the legally-authorised access to so-called administrative documents that they’re entitled to – whether these documents deal with instructions, law suits, reports, dossiers, judicial rulings, minutes, summonses, service orders, studies, statistics, etc.

CADA’s website can be found on www.cada.pt/

2009 became the year when the number of complaints from citizens who saw their rights refused reached the highest ever: a total of 650. The process whereby teachers are assessed sparked a number of complaints last year – and the increase in complaints has grown consistently. In the decade from 1999 to 2009, the number of complaints coming into CADA has risen 113 per cent.

António José Pimpão, CADA’s president, admits that “it’s true that the Government refuses to give out information, and then has it censored” so that people can’t gain access – though he stresses, these are “exceptional situations”.

According to the last CADA report published – referring to 2008 – in 90 per cent of the cases in which CADA came out in favour of the complainants, the public authority reversed its decision and allowed access to the documents in question.

But in 10 per cent of cases, the only solution is for the complainant to appeal to the courts. CADA says what must be done according to law – but the State is not obliged to accept their opinion.

Access to public documents is fundamental for the transparency of democracy – and also for the fight against corruption.

In 2008, local borough councils were the authorities most cited in complaints over the refusal to divulge public information (136). In second place came the “finanças” tax office (38 complaints), in third, the health service (29), followed by the ministries of Agriculture and Education, with 28 complaints.

In July 2009, the Algarvian borough council of Olhão was censored by the “Tribunal de Loulé” for not allowing members of the civic association «Somos Olhão!» access to documents they needed to consult. At the same time, Olhão’s mayor Francisco Leal was ordered to pay a fine, and condemned as a litigant «of bad faith». Town planning documents were at the centre of the “cover-up”.