Access to administrative documents / Documentary access

Article 22 of Law No. 241/1990 allows anyone to request documents, data and information held by a Public Administration concerning activities of public interest provided that the person making the request has a direct, concrete and current interest in the document itself. The right of access to administrative documents (so-called documental access) is the right to view and take copies of administrative documents and is regulated at provincial level by Article 32 of Provincial Law 23 of 30 November 1992. An administrative document is considered to be any graphic representation of formal acts, created by the Province or used by it to carry out administrative activities.

The regulation governing the methods of exercise and the cases of exclusion of the right of access to administrative documents is represented by the Decree of the President of the Province of 5 July 2007, no. 17-97/Leg, where in art. 4, paragraph 2, the opposing party may lodge an objection within ten days of notification.

A differentiated right of access is provided for TENDER ACTS. It is provided for in Article 53 of Legislative Decree No. 50/2016, which dictates precisely a special differentiated discipline with respect to Law No. 241/1990.

a) Paragraphs 2(a) to (d) and 3 concern the deferment of access for distinct types of documents, with an indication of the time limit for such deferment;

b) Paragraphs 5 and 6, with provision corrected by errata corrige of 15 July 2016 and then by the "corrective" Legislative Decree No. 56/2017, then deal with the hypotheses of exclusion from access.

An application for access to administrative documents may be submitted by any private person, including those with a public or diffuse interest, who has a

• direct: i.e. personal, which must belong to the sphere of the applicant and not to others
• concrete: a link between the applicant and an asset of life affected by the act or document is required
• current: referring to the request for access to documents
• corresponding to a legally protected situation and linked to the document to which access is requested.

The application for access to administrative documents may be made directly by the holder of the direct, concrete and current interest or through a representative, subject to the indication in the application of the powers of representation.
Pursuant to art. 32 of Provincial Law no. 23 of 1992 and art. 3 of Decree of the President of the Province no. 17 of 2007, the application must be motivated by the existence of a direct link between the legal situation to be protected and the document to which access is requested. Justification of the request for access is not necessary if the person making the request is the addressee of the final measure or a person who by law must intervene in the proceedings.
Several documents may also be requested with the same application.

The application for access must contain the following elements

• first name, surname and address
• an indication of the documents to which access is sought and any other information necessary for their identification
• the grounds, if necessary
• the manner in which access is to be exercised (viewing, manual transcription, extraction of a copy, joint exercise of these operations)
• the request as to whether a true copy of the original is to be issued
• the date and signature of the applicant

The application is not subject to stamp duty, unless a true copy of the original(certified copy) of a document is requested. In this case, a revenue stamp must be affixed to both the application and the certified copy issued.

Procedure for submitting and forwarding the request for access to administrative documents
The request must be submitted to the provincial structure that has formed the document or used it to carry out the administrative activity.
The request may be submitted to the competent structure by:

1. electronic mail or certified electronic mail
2. hand delivery;
3. postal service.

The contact details of all the offices of the provincial administration can be found in the Guide to Offices.
The administration has thirty days from the date of receipt of the request for access (except in cases of extension of the time limit for the protection of interested parties) to decide whether to grant access in full or in part, refuse it or defer it. If the thirty-day period expires without the administration having replied, the request is deemed to have been refused.

If the application is irregular or incomplete, the administration allows the applicant to regularise it. The request for regularisation suspends the thirty days available to the Province to decide on the matter. The suspension shall run from the date on which the request for regularisation is sent until receipt of what has been requested, or in any case until the expiry of the deadline that has been set for regularising the application.

Possible outcomes:

Acceptance
Acknowledgement is communicated to the applicant by an appropriate means of proof of receipt and must indicate

• the office where the documents can be accessed
• the opening hours to the public
• the 40-day time limit within which the right of access must be exercised

Partial acceptance (or limitation of access)
The Province, by reasoned decision, grants access limited to one or more parts of the document that is the subject of the application and not to the document in its entirety.

Deferment
The Province, with a reasoned decision, denies access for a specified period of time - indicated in the reply to the application - in the case of documents, knowledge of which may prevent or seriously obstruct the performance of administrative action. The measure indicates the date from which access to the requested documents may be granted, as well as the remedies that may be used against deferment.

Refusal
The Province refuses access in accordance with the provisions of Article 32 bis, paragraph 1 of Provincial Law no. 23 of 1992, by means of a reasoned decision. The measure also indicates the remedies that may be used against the refusal.

Remedies
Against measures of refusal (express or tacit), but also of deferment of access, the applicant may lodge a judicial appeal with the Regional Administrative Justice Court of Trento, or an administrative hierarchical appeal with the Provincial Council. As an alternative to the latter, a request for reconsideration may also be submitted to the ombudsman, within thirty days of the refusal or deferral measure.