Dear Mr. Keim,

I refer to your emailed and faxed letter to Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of 17 November 2008.

In your letter you asked for information related to the deliberations in November of the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights of the Committee of Ministers regarding the Opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the draft Convention on Access to Official Documents.

As you will know the draft Convention on Access to Official Documents was discussed for almost ten years before a compromise text was agreed by the member states.

During the examination of the Draft Convention in the organs of the Council of Europe, Norway’s general approach was guided by a wish to arrive at an ambitious convention text with regard to openness and access to public documents, combined with a text which would also allow for broad acceptance by member states. On some points Norway would have liked go further than the final negotiated result. In the end, however, Norway agreed to the compromise text, believing that this text would allow for acceptance and ratifications by a greater number of member states, and that a conclusion to the discussions needed to be drawn after 10 years of discussions.

Norway welcomes the Parliamentary Assembly's interest in this matter. However, the opinion of the Assembly presented all delegations with a difficult dilemma. The proposals from PACE would have the effect of reopening a delicate compromise on the text of the Draft Convention. In the discussions of the Rapporteur Group on Human Rights a number of countries considered that, although their respective national legal systems guaranteed a broader right of access to official documents than that enshrined in the draft convention, the latter instrument was an acceptable compromise and constituted a good starting point for recognition of an effective right of access to official documents in Europe. Norway stated that we would have liked the convention to go further in guaranteeing access to official documents in several respects. However, Norway also took into consideration that the work on this convention started 10 years ago, and that the compromise text in the draft will allow for broad accession by member states. The convention should be seen as the starting point for an effective right of access to official documents in Europe. On this basis Norway agreed with the proposal not to reopen negotiations on the text of the Convention.

The decision of the Committee of Ministers (27 November) on the Draft Convention can be found on

I expect that the Spanish presidency of the Committee of Ministers will soon send a letter to the Assembly in this matter.

Unfortunately I’m not at liberty to provide you with a copy of the decision of the Rapporteur group on Human Rights due to the Council of Europe’s regulations on confidentiality and the Norwegian regulations , cf. the Freedom of Information Act 1970 (Offentlighetsloven) section 6 paragrah1 no1. 45 of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states supported the proposal not to reopen negotiations on the Convention on Access to Official Documents.

We are not in possession of a list of the participants at the meeting of the Rapporteur group on Human Rights. Norway was represented by Ms. Elin Widsteen from the Norwegian Permanent Delegation to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In the deliberations on the Draft Convention in the Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) Norway has been represented recently by Ms. Tonje Ruud, Ministry of Justice and Police.

If you have any further questions, the contact person in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is

Mr. Leif Arne Ulland
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Senior Adviser, Department of Security Affairs
Tel: + 47 22 24 3726
Cel: + 47 414 62280
E-mail office: lau@mfa.no

Yours sincerely 

Anita Nergaard

Assistant Director General