asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answers by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 3 December 2007 (WA 170) and 25 March (WA 80), whether in negotiating the draft European Convention on Access to Official Documents they have sought to persuade the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights to include within an overarching framework of minimum standards: (a) a general guarantee of the right of access to official documents; (b) a general right of access to information held by legislative bodies, judicial bodies and private bodies that exercise public functions; (c) a right of access to an appellate authority to challenge a denial of access to information; and (d) a specific provision governing the reservations to the convention which may be made; and, if not, whether they regard each of these as minimum standards. [HL2868]

The Government did not make any proposals to amend the draft Convention on Access to Official Documents drawn up by the group of specialists on access to official documents (of which the UK is a member). The consensus among member states was that the draft convention should not become a “dead letter” convention, but one that established a set of principles governing the right of access to official documents which as many countries as possible could sign. The draft convention already contained a provision for a right of access to an appellate authority to challenge a denial of access to information, but the Government did seek to persuade the Steering Committee on Human Rights that the term “denial” should be interpreted broadly to encompass any situation where access to information had been made ineffective. No proposal was made to limit the areas in which a reservation may be made. In accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969, a state can formulate a reservation to the convention on signature and ratification as long as it is compatible with the objective and purpose of the treaty.