2014 AT THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION families could be unnecessarily exposed and stigmatised in their local communities. The Environmental Information Act gives a particularly broad access to public administration files, and though the concern not to expose the farmers and their families to stigmatisation was valid and important, it was not sufficiently proven that this would in actual fact be the result of granting the access. It also played a part in our legal assessment of the case that the mere fact that a herd is infected does not mean that the farmer and the farmer’s family are too. The food safety authorities accepted our statement and decided to give access to the documents. However, at the same time they decided to suspend the actual release of the information. Their grounds were that the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (representing the farming and food industries of Denmark, including businesses, trade and farmers’ associations) had brought a legal action against the authorities, claiming that the information should not be released and at the same time applying for a delaying effect pending the proceedings. This was a quite exceptional situation, and the authorities were, so to speak, being squeezed between the Ombudsman and the courts of law. Can a public authority suspend access to files solely on the grounds that legal action has been taken and delaying effect applied for? And moreover, after the Ombudsman has been involved in the case? But on the other hand, can the authorities ignore legal proceedings and just hand over the documents? The damage will, after all, be irreversible if the courts reach the conclusion that the documents are not subject to the right to access after all. In this particular case, we decided to let the authorities’ decision of suspension stand. The reality was that we would be forestalling the decision regarding a delaying effect which the courts were about to make, and this was, in addition, a case involving very complex legal issues and strong interests. So can public authorities in future just refuse access because somebody succeeds in bringing a legal action before the information has been handed over? No, they cannot. However, I doubt that we will be seeing this problem very often ‒ I do not think that we have ever encountered it before ‒ and if we do, it must be resolved in the light of the specific circumstances. But it does illustrate an unusual aspect of the relationship between the Ombudsman and the courts of law. A third case which dominated headlines concerned cost-cutting plans for children placed in care at Guldborgsund Municipality (Annual Report 2014, Case No. 2014-9). 13