Communicated on 2 March 2021
Published on 22 March 2021
FIFTH SECTION
Application no. 18036/13
EASTERN UKRAINIAN CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INITIATIVES
against Ukraine
and 13 other applications
(see list appended)
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applications concern the applicant’s complaint, under Article 10 of the Convention, of denial of access to information of public interest held by public authorities in reply to its requests.
The applicant is a non-governmental organisation aiming at the protection of the right to free access to public information in the field of spatial planning.
In November 2009 (in application no. 38956/15 – in January 2014) the applicant NGO requested a number of municipalities to provide the information regarding their spatial planning, including disclosure of master plans of settlements (генеральні плани населених пунктів). It was mentioned in the requests (except the request in application no. 38956/15) that the applicant NGO monitors accessibility of master plans of 70 settlements in Ukraine and the information obtained would be analysed and released to the public. These requests were refused on the ground of restricted access to the information (it was either marked as “for internal use only” or “classified information” or “confidential information”) or due to the inability to copy a vast amount of information (application no. 56744/14).
The domestic courts, acting upon the applicant NGO’s complaints, ruled against it.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has there been an interference with the applicant NGO’s freedom of expression, in particular its right to receive and impart information, within the meaning of Article 10 § 1 of the Convention (see Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v. Hungary [GC], no. 18030/11, 8 November 2016)?
2. If so, was that interference prescribed by law and necessary in terms of Article 10 § 2?
APPENDIX
\* MERGEFORMAT
No
App. no.
Lodged on
Application name
Authority requested
Final decision
18036/13
21/02/2013
Eastern Ukrainian Centre for Public Initiatives
Mykolaiv city council
Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU)
21/08/2012
43206/13
19/06/2013
Ternopil city council
HACU
25/12/2012
14667/14
22/01/2014
Dnipropetrovsk city council
HACU
17/07/2013
14681/14
22/01/2014
Vinnytsya city council
HACU
19/07/2013
36985/14
21/04/2014
Donetsk city council
HACU
16/10/2013
48140/14
02/06/2014
Simferopol city council
HACU
26/12/2013
56744/14
30/07/2014
Rivne city council
HACU
24/01/2014
73448/14
13/11/2014
Ivano-Frankivsk city council
HACU
12/06/2014
73450/14
13/11/2014
Sumy city council
HACU
12/06/2014
2855/15
24/12/2014
Chernihiv city council
HACU
26/11/2014
4168/15
24/12/2014
Cherkasy city council
HACU
07/08/2014
5067/15
22/12/2014
Odesa city council
HACU
25/11/2014
5883/15
24/12/2014
Chernivtsi city council
HACU
28/10/2014
38956/15
27/01/2015
Kyiv city council
HACU
30/10/2014
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy