Just as the contracting parties of the European Convention can limit the right to freedom of expression in some situations, they can also take positive measures to protect this right in other situations.
The European Court has issued several decisions and judgments on the right to access information held by public authorities. The right to freedom of information prohibits the government from restricting anyone from receiving information from anyone else. In some cases, the Court found denying access to the requested information would violate the right to private and family life. Accordingly, Article 8 of the Convention imposes a positive obligation on the contracting parties to respect these rights. In one case against the Czech Republic, the Court ruled that denying access to information interfered with freedom of expression, protected by Article 10. In its conclusion, it rejected the request as inadmissible because the non-disclosure of the information was justified. The Court presented a theory in which the state’s monopoly over information meant that withholding information was analogous to the imposition of indirect prior censorship on the media, especially in preventing the press from obtaining information. Ensuring this right requires the contracting parties to adopt a regulation on the right to information and introduce internal systems through which they will provide the timely provision of information and its publication.
B.P.