54 ANNUAL REPORT 2013 Nowadays, most authorities are using electronic case and document management systems, which means that documents can no longer get lost in the same way as before. However, the practice of later years shows that many of the factors causing problems previously can cause problems in the electronic world, too. Order as a prerequisite for public access to information In an older case, a journalist had requested access to documents of the DSB’s (the Danish State Railways) about the DSB’s rental of the ferries Ask and Urd (the 1993 Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Case No. 1993.294 – a summary in English is available in ‘Summary of Annual Report 1993’, Case No. 21-3). The DSB gave access gradually over four times. Following each time, a DSB shipping company manager stated that ‘as far as he knew’, the journalist had now seen all documents in the case. More documents were found only because the journalist kept insisting on the existence of more documents. The Ombudsman stated that from the very beginning, the DSB ought to have searched all offices where case documents might have been kept since there was not a central records office. In a more recent case, the Ombudsman became aware that a municipality had possibly kept quiet about or denied the existence of documents to which a citizen had requested access (the 2001 Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Case No. 2001.598 – a summary in English is available in ‘Summary Annual Report 2001’, Case No. 19-7, on www.ombudsmanden.dk). During his investigation, the Ombudsman’s suspicion was confirmed, and the case resulted in severe criticism. The municipality’s failure to mention documents in its replies to access requests was viewed by the Ombudsman as ‘a matter for extraordinary criticism’. In addition to this, the Ombudsman found that a reply (in another letter) from the municipality that no further case documents existed was ‘a clearly unacceptable suppression and denial’ of a document’s existence. Even though the right of access to information does not depend on whether documents have been registered, the cases illustrate that keeping records can prevent documents being forgotten or overlooked when a decision about access is to be made. In addition to this, keeping records helps to make sure that citizens who request access to information can check by consulting the list of documents that no documents have been suppressed or forgotten. It is important to keep in mind that the new provision in the Access to Public Administration Files Act that a request for access can be denied if ‘the processing of the request will necessitate a disproportionate use of resources’ cannot be applied if the use