You can seek access to restricted information held by public institutions, but only if you need it for a specific purpose.
Restricted information
Restricted information is intended for a limited number of persons who use it to perform their duties and normally only they receive access to it. Disclosure of such information can impair the functioning of administrative institutions or harm the rights of other persons.
Limited access to certain information can be prescribed by law: for example, information concerning the private life of an individual such as his medical files, confidential information concerning criminal investigations or documents on state security marked as classified.
Request
In order to access to restricted information, you need to distinguish two kinds of information:
- information that can never be disclosed: this concerns both very specific documents issued by public institutions in the course of investigations and administrative documents whose communication or consultation would infringe state interests (national defence, foreign policy, state security, currency, safety of individuals etc.)
- information that can only be disclosed to the person who requested it: this concerns administrative documents related to someone’s private life, medical secret, business confidentiality etc.
example Information that affects the confidentiality of national defence cannot be disclosed.
exception You can request access to a document containing restricted information if the restricted information in question can be blacked out or removed from the document.
Time
The institution should provide the information you requested access to within 1 month of the receipt of your request.
exception If the information concerns your health information, the deadline is 8 days if the file is less than 5 years old, and 2 months if the file is older than 5 years.
If there is no response, your application is refused (refus tacite).
You choose how you want the document to be communicated, within the limits of the administration's technical possibilities. The information may be provided orally, in written form and where possible, through electronic communication as well.
Fees
If the information that you are interested in is ready and available and does not require the collection of any additional data by the authorities, it should be provided free of charge. However, the authority may require you to cover the fees necessary to find or copy the information you are looking for. Such fees should not exceed the costs of collecting the information.
Refusal & Explanation
Public institutions can partly or fully deny you access to restricted information. This may, for example, be done to protect the rights of other persons or other important interests. However, in such a case they must issue a written decision where it indicates the motivation, indicating the considerations of law and fact for denying access to the information requested.
Criteria
Whenever a public institution considers whether access to information should be granted or denied, it must balance your rights and interests with other interests protected by the concealment of the information. Therefore, it must evaluate:
- the potential violation that could be done to the rights of other persons or other important interests if the information is disclosed. To do this, the administration concerned must ascertain whether, in view of the content of the information requested, and not just because of its nature, its disclosure might actually infringe a protected secret (medical confidentiality or France’s foreign policy)
- if the necessary modifications make the information meaningless
example State authorities may provide an environmental NGO access to general information about a planned wind power park, but might refuse to provide access to technical information in the interest of protecting industrial secrets. However, an absolute denial of access to information in this case would clearly be disproportional.
How to complain
Read more about how to complain where you have been denied access to restricted information.