Appeal in Cassation at the Supreme Court of Spain (Special)

The claimants file their appeal, responding to the questions raised by the Supreme Court when admitting the case and arguing a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression and information.

It is outlined that the right to freedom of expression and information cannot be limited on the grounds of national security, defence and economic and commercial interests as these are not stipulated in the Spanish constitution which enshrines this fundamental right and its permissible limits.

It is also submitted that the High Court failed to properly apply the proportionality test (under the ECHR and Law 19/2013) when limiting the exercise of the fundamental right of freedom of expression, and the correlative right to access information. Under this proportionality test, it is submitted that the information requested meets an ‘undeniable public interest’ which would outweigh the economic and commercial interests of NGTS that could arguably be placed at risk by accessing this information.

It is also argued that the classification of information pursuant to the Official Secrets Act constitutes an absolute limit to the possibility of monitoring arms exports by any social or institutional act and on the right of access to information. In turn, the government’s reliance on the classified nature of the licensing information is argued to be a disproportionate interference with the exercise of a fundamental right.