A UN oversight body has concluded that Sweden is not complying with the Aarhus Convention, which grants journalists and civil society organisations the right to obtain information on environmental matters from public authorities.

The case stems from a complaint by EUobserver's partner and journalist Staffan Dahllöf (Staffan Dahllöf), challenging the refusal by the Swedish Chemicals Agency and two courts to provide information on environmental matters relating to the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

The UN Aarhus Convention, signed by all 27 EU member states, has been used on numerous occasions to shed light on and legally challenge decisions that may harm the environment. Under an EU directive adopted in 2003, the convention is binding in all EU member states.

The information requested was crucial to the 2019 decision on the approval of the pesticide chlorpyrifos.

A draft set of findings by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC), published on 7 July, sharply criticises the Swedish authorities for misapplying transparency rules. The committee points in particular to an overly broad interpretation of the exemptions, especially in cases where the information concerns emissions, which should normally be publicly available.

Six years after the journalist's complaint, the committee concluded that the Swedish authorities had failed to grant access to the information and had not adequately explained the refusal. The committee recommended that Sweden take the "necessary legislative, regulatory, administrative and practical measures" to ensure that exemptions are not abused, that the public interest is taken into account, and that all decisions to withhold information are explained.

"This UN body can help journalists and citizens, if we are patient enough. Hopefully Sweden will accept the committee's recommendations," Dahllöf told EUobserver.

Sweden has traditionally been regarded as a model of transparency in policymaking, unlike some other European Union member states and EU institutions. In this case, the picture is different. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published the requested documents, which the Swedish authorities had withheld, before the final decision was taken.

Chlorpyrifos, the pesticide at the centre of the dispute, was banned in the European Union in January 2020.