The participants were hosted at the Mirror Chapel of the Klementinum (National Library of the Czech Republic) located in the old city of Prague.

The 25th biennial colloquium of the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Courts of the European Union (ACA-Europe) was held in Prague (Czech Republic) from 29 to 31 May 2016.

The colloquium, organised by the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (Nejvyšší správní soud) and ACA-Europe, intended to address the following topic: “Provide or Protect? Administrative courts between Scylla of freedom of information and Charybdis of protection of privacy”.

Mr Josef Baxa, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, Mr Pavel Molek, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic and Mr Irmantas Jarukaitis, acting President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (from left to right).

The first part of the colloquium, introduced by Mr Josef Baxa, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, and moderated by Mr Pavel Molek, Judge of the same Court, was dedicated, firstly, to the conclusions of the seminar conducted in 2015 and, secondly, to “Scylla”, that is to say the part of the colloquium focusing on the right of access to information. Three speakers were invited to present the situation in their respective countries: Mr Marc Lefever, deputy auditor general of the Council of State of Belgium, Mr Kari Kuusiniemi, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland, and Mr Irmantas Jarukaitis, acting President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania.

Mr Josef Baxa, President of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, Mr Radim Polčák, Head of the Institute of Law and Technology (ILT) at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno, Mr Jacek Chlebny, Vice President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland and Mr Ivo Pilving, President of the administrative chamber of the Supreme Court of Estonia (left to right).

The second part of the colloquium, moderated by Mr Radim Polčàk, Head of the Institute of Law and Technology (ILT) at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University in Brno, was dedicated to “Charybdis”, that is to say the part of the colloquium focusing on the protection of privacy. The presentation was followed by speeches given by Mr Jacek Chlebny, Vice President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland, Mr Ivo Pilving, President of the administrative chamber of the Supreme Court of Estonia and Ms Maryvonne de Saint-Pulgent, President of the Documentation and Research Division of the Council of State of France.

Ms Maryvonne de Saint-Pulgent, President of the Documentation and Research Division of the Council of State of France, during her speech on the protection of privacy of judges and the duty of confidentiality. To her left, Mr Josef Baxa and Mr Radim Polčàk.

The colloquium was preceded by a meeting of the Board of the ACA-Europe held on Sunday, 29 May.

The meeting of the General Assembly of the Association and a seminar for the court presidents took place on Tuesday, 31 May 2016. The seminar addressed the issues of access to the administrative courts and the standardisation of administrative case law in each State. This exchange was an opportunity to compare the responses of the courts to a questionnaire on access to the administrative courts.

This colloquium marks the end of the presidency of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic of ACA-Europe. The next presidency (2016-2018) will be assumed by the Council of State of the Netherlands, the Vice President of which is Mr Piet Hein Donner. The General Assembly also elected the German Federal Supreme Court, chaired by Mr Klaus Rennert, as the Vice-President of the Association.

On the sidelines of the colloquium, the court presidents were welcomed at the Prague Castle by Mr Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic.