There is a new Prix Transparence for the best local research

In 2022, journalists from 37 editorial offices used documents or data requested by the administrations to produce a total of 81 articles. In the process, they uncovered, for example, excessive severance pay for members of the authorities, covert lobbying by interest groups or sabotage risks at the Swiss gas supply.

Publicity laws have now become an important working tool also for media professionals working in the local and regional sphere. That is why Publicity law.ch is awarding a "Prix Transparence Regio" for the first time this year. Three entries from CH Media have been nominated, 24 Heures and Centralplus.

The Board of Directors and the office of Publicity law.ch have selected the most outstanding transparency stories of the past year. A jury of experts will select the winners from the nominated entries in the coming weeks. Four entries from French-speaking Switzerland and nine from German-speaking Switzerland have been nominated..

Also in 2022, media professionals sometimes fought in court for access to information: A Le-Temps-journalist wanted to inspect a protocol of the cantonal pension fund. In the legal dispute, the Federal Supreme Court held that the Federal Act on the Freedom of Information (BGÖ) takes precedence over the Federal Law on Occupational Pensions (BVG), in which a duty of confidentiality is enshrined. The audit oversight authority (RAB) also unsuccessfully defended itself against the release of an audit report on the subsidy scandal at Postbus. Here, too, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that information restrictions in the Audit Oversight Act are not sacrosanct.

The collected transparency stories, including those from 2022, are available on Oeffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch retrievable.