Laws, guidelines and practices duty to document – Government departments routinely seek advice from external or internal legal experts to inform their policy choices and ensure that they are acting within the law. This study found that in only three jurisdictions have laws requiring this class of information to be documented (see Table 6, page 45). These are Poland, Spain and the European Commission. In addition, guidelines are in place in Ireland, Scotland and the (rest of the) United Kingdom. This research identifies the practice of documenting such legal advice in five countries – Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission. Table 6: Legal advice to ministry meetings: duty to document and proactive publication Class of Information: Legal advice given to government departments (excluding Attorney General/chief legal adviser advice)? Is a duty to document? Are provisions for proactive publication? Country Law Guidelines Law Guidelines Consistently released under FOI X X Austria NC X X X X X X Finland NC X X Germany NC X S X X X Hungary NC NC X X Ireland X X S X NC Italy X X X X Poland X X X  Scotland X X X X  NC Slovenia X X X X X Spain X X S S Sweden _ _ _ _ _ X X X X United  Kingdom
Laws, guidelines and practices – duty to document Government departments routinely seek advice from external or internal legal experts to inform their policy choices and ensure that they are acting within the law. This study found that in only three jurisdictions have laws requiring this class of information to be documented (see Table 6, page 45). These are Poland, Spain and the European Commission. In addition, guidelines are in place in Ireland, Scotland and the (rest of the) United Kingdom. This research identifies the practice of documenting such legal advice in five countries – Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the European Commission. Table 6: Legal advice to ministry meetings: duty to document and proactive publication Class of Information: Legal advice given to government departments (excluding Attorney General/chief legal adviser advice)? Country Is a duty to document? Are provisions for proactive publication? Law Guidelines Law Guidelines Consistently released under FOI Austria X NC X X X Finland X X X X NC Germany X NC X X S Hungary NC X NC X X Ireland X S X X X Italy X X X X NC Poland  X X X X Scotland X  X X X Slovenia X X X X NC Spain S X S X X Sweden _ _ _ _ _ United Kingdom X  X X X
2018-01-05-Record-Keeping-Expert-Paper.docx