THE PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC ACCESS TO OFFICIAL RECORDS. When the University receives a request for the release of an official document, we must prioritize this over other administrative work and immediately release the document requested. Akademiliv consults Kristina Ullgren, Legal Officer at the University, to clarify the situation in view of the recent criticism by the Parliamentary Ombudsman (JO).
In a recent statement of opinion, the JO criticized the University of Gothenburg for not releasing official documents quickly enough. This matter involved a person who asked to obtain previous examination questions from courses at Sahlgrenska Academy, where the teacher coordinating the course chose not to release these questions, as they contained sensitive patient images.
“An examination paper (that is, the examination questions used for the examination) is archived by the University for ten years. This is always an official document that is to be released on request at all times. If a teacher does not wish to have sensitive information disseminated, such information should not be included in the information when the examination is created,” explains Kristina Ullgren, Legal Officer at the University within the Governance and Development Unit.
Who or why is irrelevant
The principle of everyone being entitled to have access to official documents has existed in Sweden for many years – in fact, this year it has been 250 years since the introduction of the principle of public access to official records as part of our constitutional law through the Freedom of the Press Act. According to the principle of public access to official records, anyone can refer to a public authority and request the release of an official document. A party requesting a document does not need to state their name or what the document will be used for.
Different kinds of document
Documents often comprise documents with text, but may also be pictures, tape recordings, films or other information that, for example, has been stored on a computer. The principle of public access to official records divides documents into different categories.
There are documents that have not yet entered the public domain, such as notes, drafts, minutes that have not been verified or documents relating to a matter that has not yet been cleared. We do not have to release these documents, although we may do so.
Official documents may either have been drawn up at the University or created elsewhere and subsequently delivered to the University. Official documents may either be public or secret. Secret documents are those previously considered to be subject to a secrecy rule, which should undergo another assessment of secrecy before they can be disclosed.
If you send a memorandum or other document, which has not yet become public at the University, to another public authority, it will be received there and thereby becomes a public document at that public authority.
Secrecy represents an exemption
In exceptional cases, the official documents requested may be subject to a secrecy rule contained in the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act and may consequently be classified as secret. If an official document is subject to secrecy, an assessment of secrecy should be carried out which should address whether the official document can be released despite it being subject to secrecy or whether the document may not be released. There are also documents that have not yet become official documents, for instance in those cases where the matter to which the document relates has not yet been cleared.
“If someone asks for a document and you are uncertain about whether it is official or public, please contact someone who can help you with the matter. You are for instance welcome to contact me or one of my colleagues,” says Kristina Ullgren, who can be contacted by phone on +46 (0)031-786 1092 or by email at kristina.ullgren@gu.se.
High priority
The JO points out in its statement of opinion that information about a release matter should be provided quickly – this information should normally be provided on the same day on which the request is presented.
“In other words, we should put aside our other work and immediately deal with the document for which a disclosure request has been received. This is the view of the JO on the matter and consequently this is what applies,” concludes Kristina Ullgren.
Some delay may be unavoidable if the request involves reviewing an extensive amount of material. However, the Act clearly states that official documents must be disclosed without unnecessary delay, and the JO therefore points out that the processing of disclosure requests must take priority over other administrative work.
The documents may be very extensive. If copies have been requested, we should provide the first nine free of charge but charge from the tenth copy in accordance with the Fees Ordinance. A party who has requested access to a public, official document must always be able to access the document free of charge on University premises.
The University Director makes refusal decisions
In order to further complicate the matter, there are also ‘potential documents’. A potential document is a document that may not currently exist at the public authority, but which may be created by combining the data contained in various registers and databases at the University. However, the situation in this case is that official documents only relate to those potential documents that we usually produce ourselves for our own work.
Combining different data from various registers may also contravene the privacy legislation and thus be impermissible. If this is the case we may not produce such a document, and consequently nor may we release any such document to the public.
If a request to release an official document is rejected, this constitutes an active official decision made by us as a public authority; any such decisions are to be made by Jörgen Tholin, University Director. A party who has requested and been refused an official document is entitled to obtain a written decision indicating which secrecy rule has been applied and what they should do to appeal to the administrative court of appeal against the decision.
Better procedures
Kristina Ullgren points out that research material may be governed by other laws, where, for example, information from patient records may mean that the rules on hospital secrecy apply. It is also important to remember that we must have access to the document in order to be able to release it:
“For instance, the answers provided by students during examinations are returned to the students. When the answers are returned, they are not archived at the University, and consequently we cannot release them. It is not possible to release an official document that we do not possess.”
“It is rare for the JO to criticize the University in this way, but it does happen,” comments Kristina Ullgren. The decision of the JO did not result in any sanction for the University apart from the JO having issued a directive for the University to improve its procedures.
Contact details:
Kristina Ullgren (University Legal Officer): +46 (0)31-786 1092 or kristina.ullgren@gu.se
Arkivhandbok för Göteborgs universitet [Archive Manual for the University of Gothenburg] is available here: http://www.gu.se/digitalAssets/1255/1255842_Arkivhandbok061027.pdf
A simple, summarized document about the principle of public access to official records, issued by the Swedish Government, is available here: http://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/cb2808f6d4914ee0a0a2a568a5d76532/offentlighetsprincipen_a6_sept2015_webb.pdf
The full version of the Freedom of the Press Act in the Swedish Code of Statutes is available here: http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Lagar/Svenskforfattningssamling/Tryckfrihetsforordning-19491_sfs-1949-105/
