The Supreme Court in Administrative Matters (VwGH) recently dealt with the obligation of confidentiality of authorities. The appellant asked for information concerning him on the exchange of information between domestic and foreign authorities. The request was rejected. This was justified with the “protection of the interests of foreign relations”. In general, the interest in information and the interest in confidentiality must be weighed up. If there are public interests however, as in the present case, there is no need to weigh interests. Public interests (acc to Art 20 B-VG) always prevail (VwGH Ra 2017/01/0140 dated 28.01.2019).
On the obligation of confidentiality of authorities
