ANAC: Public Procurement Code and right of access, the Anti-Corruption Authority updates Regulation 41/2026 on access to data and documents.

With Resolution 41/2026, ANAC approved the revision of its Regulations governing the procedures relating to civic access, generalized civic access to data and documents held by ANAC and access to administrative documents pursuant to Law 241/1990 on access, updating the text originally adopted with Resolution no. 1019 of 24 October 2018.

The most significant change concerns the downsizing of the cases of exclusion from the right of access. In particular, ANAC eliminated the provision that generally removed notes, notes, office proposals and other preparatory documents from exhibition. The revision moves in line with the jurisprudential orientation according to which these documents, when dated, signed, registered or otherwise included in the administrative procedure, cannot be automatically excluded from access just because they are "internal" or preparatory. On the other hand, merely informal writings, such as minutes and notes without signature or initials, which do not take on the nature of true administrative documents, are excluded.

Alongside this intervention, ANAC has updated the regulation to the references of the new Public Procurement Code, replacing the references to Legislative Decree No. 50/2016 with those to Legislative Decree No. 36/2023. The adaptation is mainly technical, but has practical relevance in tender procedures, for example for the deferral of access to documents during the course of the procedure.

Overall, the revision confirms a line of greater adherence to the general framework of administrative transparency and narrows the space for regulatory exclusions that are too broad. For contracting authorities, economic operators and subjects who interact with the Authority, the most concrete novelty is that internal documents with actual procedural relevance are now less easily withdrawn from access.