| 23 Kirsten Talevski Senior Head of Division Kristine Holst Hedegaard Deputy Head of Division The general public is given special access to case materials about environmental information, and a number of cases with the Ombudsman indicate a broad perception of the term. But journalists and others should also be aware that using the term ‘environmental information’ does not always result in access to documents. A memorandum on the costs of shifting motorists from cars to trains was given a hard time by a technical journalist. He wrote a number of critical articles about the memorandum. He was particularly critical of the Ministry’s calculations. At one point, the Ministry complained to the editor-in-chief about the technical journalist. The outcome was that the journalist asked for access to documents about the complaint. The question was now which Act the Ministry should base the request for access on. Broadly speaking, there are two codes of practice regarding access to documents for persons who are not a party to a case. The majority of those who work with access to documents are familiar with the new Access to Public Administration Files Act. The Environmental Information Act is less well-known. But if you seek access to environmental information, the authorities must observe the Environmental Information Act. Consequently, the Environmental Information Act is of importance to a large part of the public administration. And it can also be of significant importance as to whether journalists and other citizens are granted access or not. However, it can be difficult to know whether the access is related to environmental information. This was also the case when the journalist asked for access to the Ministry’s documents about the handling of his criticism. Could information about a journalist’s critical writings about a memorandum be considered environmental information at all? Environmental information and the Access to Public Administration Files Act The Environmental Information Act implements an EU regulation within Danish legislation. Because of the underlying EU legislation the Act can be complicated to use, and you must, among