Artikel 10

1. As a complement to the requirements of this Protocol for Parties to publish specific information or documents, each Party shall take steps within the framework of its legislation to make available to the public such information as is held by public authorities and is reasonably needed to inform public discussion of:
a) The establishment of targets and of target dates for their achievement and the development of water-management plans in accordance with article 6;
b) The establishment, improvement or maintenance of surveillance and early-warning systems and contingency plans in accordance with article 8;
c) The promotion of public awareness, education, training, research, development and information in accordance with article 9.
2. Each Party shall ensure that public authorities, in response to a request for other information relevant to the implementation of this Protocol, make such information available within a reasonable time to the public, within the framework of national legislation.
3. The Parties shall ensure that information referred to in article 7, paragraph 4, and paragraph 1 of this article shall be available to the public at all reasonable times for inspection free of charge, and shall provide members of the public with reasonable facilities for obtaining from the Parties, on payment of reasonable charges, copies of such information.
4. Nothing in this Protocol shall require a public authority to publish information or make information available to the public if:
a) The public authority does not hold the information;
b) The request for the information is manifestly unreasonable or formulated in too general a manner; or
c) The information concerns material in the course of completion or concerns internal communications of public authorities where such an exemption is provided for in national law or customary practice, taking into account the public interest served by disclosure.
5. Nothing in this Protocol shall require a public authority to publish information or make information available to the public if disclosure of the information would adversely affect:
a) The confidentiality of the proceedings of public authorities, where such confidentiality is provided for under national law;
b) International relations, national defence or public security;
c) The course of justice, the ability of a person to receive a fair trial or the ability of a public authority to conduct an enquiry of a criminal or disciplinary nature;
d) The confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, where such confidentiality is protected by law in order to protect a legitimate economic interest. Within this framework, information on emissions and discharges which are relevant for the protection of the environment shall be disclosed;
e) Intellectual property rights;
f) The confidentiality of personal data and/or files relating to a natural person where that person has not consented to the disclosure of the information to the public, where such confidentiality is provided for in national law;
g) The interests of a third party which has supplied the information requested without that party being under, or being capable of being put under, a legal obligation to do so, and where that party does not consent to the release of the material; or
h) The environment to which the information relates, such as the breeding sites of rare species.
These grounds for not disclosing information shall be interpreted in a restrictive way, taking into account the public interest served by disclosure and taking into account whether the information relates to emissions and discharges into the environment.