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Published on 23 July 2024

Special reservations under Art. 4 FoIA

The Freedom of Information Act needs to be coordinated with the provisions of special federal laws that establish special provisions for access to official documents. According to Article 4 FoIA, special provisions contained in other Federal Acts are reserved where they declare certain information secret(letter a) or declare the access to certain information to be subject to requirements derogating from those set out in the FoIA (letter b), thereby rendering the provisions of the FoIA inapplicable to access to such information.

Whether a legal provision takes precedence in the sense of a special provision pursuant to Art. 4 FoIA must be determined for each specific case by interpreting the relevant provisions.

No special provisions under Art. 4 FoIA

(April 2025)