Athens: 30 January 2009

The Legal Council of the State, Minister of Economy and Finance, Hellenic Republic, has issued an official Opinion following a hearing held the 27 January 2009 related to the request made by LANDINVEST private company (on the 24 June 2008) to the Athens Real Estate Service for public information concerning the leasing agreements contracted by the service for the accommodation of public services.

(Greek language) approved 30 January 2009, 15 pages

(English language translation) approved 30 January 2009, 15 pages

The ruling was in response to the following question:

“Is the Athens Real Estate Service obliged, according to art. 5 of law 2690/1999, to provide information (monthly rents and square meters of buildings) of rental agreements contracted for the accommodation of public services to the interested private individual in order for the later to draw up a related evaluation report, taking also into account the provision of law 2472/1997, and if this is the case, is this information going to be notified to the said individual by a document issued by the service or through copies of other administrative documents, such as decisions awarding tenders.”

The unanimous Opinion by the Greek Legal Council of the State after careful consideration of relevant Greek legislation rules in favour of allowing the re-use of public information within the context of the Greek transposition of the PSI Directive 2003/98 and other relevant legislation. The ruling stipulates that in cases where the information includes personal data that either the consent of the data subject will be required or that the personal data is removed before public release. In cases where the removal of the personal data requires excessive effort the public authority can lawfully refuse to make the documents or information available for re-use.

The Opinion was given with detailed reference to the following Greek legislation.

• 1975/1986/2001 (Greek Constitution)
• Law 2690/1999 (Freedom of Information Act)
• Law 2472/1997 (Data Protection)
• Law 3448/2006 (Greek Transposition of the PSI Directive 2003/98)

The Opinion is detailed and makes reference to how requests for public data can be made and the terms and time frames under which the public authorities are required to respond.

Related Case

LANDINVEST Request for Athens Real Estate Service Data

Related News and Reports

Raising PSI Awareness (Greek ombudsman runs seminar to raise awareness on rights to public sector information and its re-use)

ePSIplus Network Greek National Meeting Report (May 2008)