On September 30, 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the appeal filed by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and upheld the decision of the Chisinau Court of Appeal to compel the Ministry to provide for free the copy of the advisory opinion to the Decision of the Government no. 753 of June 23, 2008.

In the context of amendments to the Law on Editorial Activity and adoption of the Regulation on the Assessment, Selection and Publication of Textbooks for Pre-university Education in 2008, the Independent Journalism Center requested the Ministry of Economy and Commerce a copy of its advisory opinion to the draft decision of the Government on the adoption of the above mentioned Regulation. The request of access to information was refused by the Ministry citing that once the Regulation had been adopted and enforced, prior advisory opinions were not relevant to the public interest.

The Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the refusal of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to provide information is unfounded and illegal since official information held by the public authority bodies is likely to be provided to the public, irrespective of its provenience, unless otherwise provided by the law.

The court case was carried out in the framework of the project “Improving the media law environment in Moldova” supported by the Civil Rights Defenders from Sweden.