Freedom of information law applicable equally to all EU citizens, tribunal says

Malta’s Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal has overturned a decision to refuse a request for information by a foreign national, ruling that all EU citizens have a right to submit information requests.

Chaired by lawyer Anna Mallia, the tribunal ruled that even though the Freedom of Information Act says that people who file a request for information must be both citizens of Malta or another EU Member State and have been resident in Malta for five or more years, “the intention of the legislator was never to withhold such information from the EU citizens.”

The case was successfully fought by Access Info Europe, a human rights organisation dedicated to promoting and protecting the right of access to information in Europe as a tool for defending civil liberties and human rights.

The case dates to August 2019 when a request for data on migration to Malta was submitted by an Italian citizen working at Access Info’s Madrid office. The information was requested from the Home Affairs and National Security Ministry which refused it on the grounds that she was not a Maltese resident.

Access Info challenged this as contravening Malta’s Constitution and international standards,...