SUMMARIES OF SELECTED STATEMENTS L. MINISTRY OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES The following statements on cases concluded in 2014 have been published: 2014-4. DENIED ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT ORIGIN AND PRELIMINARY TEST RESULTS OF GM MAIZE A company had filed an application with the Danish AgriFish Agency for variety testing of seven GM maize types for registration on the Danish National List of Plant Varieties and had asked for confidentiality in that context. After having received the information that the varieties could not be expected to obtain registration on the list, the company withdrew its application. A journalist complained to the Ombudsman that the Danish AgriFish Agency as well as the Ministry of Food’s Complaints Center had denied him access to information about the origin and preliminary test results of the maize varieties. The Ombudsman agreed with the authorities that the question of access had to be decided in compliance with the rules of the Environmental Information Act which is based on, i.a., an EU Directive. The company’s request for confidentiality was submitted pursuant to a provision in the Consolidate Act on Plant Variety Protection, also based on an EU Directive. The Ombudsman agreed with the authorities that the confidentiality regulation in the Consolidate Act on Plant Variety Protection was defined in order to protect plant breeding companies’ trade secrets and that this precautionary measure was also safeguarded in the EU Directive on environmental information. Since the Ombudsman found no grounds for disregarding the authorities’ deliberations in the case, including the consideration to protect the companies’ trade secrets compared to the public’s interest in disclosure of the information, the Ombudsman could not criticise the authorities’ decisions. 2014-8. INFORMATION IDENTIFYING WHICH PIG FARMS WERE CONTAMINATED WITH A MULTIRESISTANT BACTERIA COULD NOT BE EXEMPTED FROM ACCESS In the time period 2008-2011, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration tested a number of pig farms to find out if they were contaminated with the multiresistant Staphylococcus bacteria MRSA. Three journalists asked the 129