Facts
On November 16, 2012, media professionals A. and B. (hereinafter: applicants) requested the Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (BBL) for access to documents on "Controlling Reports, Statistical Evaluation of Procurement Figures 2011 for all Departments" pursuant to the Federal Public Access to Information Act. The BBL granted them partial access to the documents, but refused unrestricted access to the list of the 40 highest-turnover suppliers (suppliers) of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) for the year 2011 and did not enter into the request for access to the corresponding documents of the Federal Chancellery and the other six federal departments.
The applicants then filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court. This court partially upheld the complaint and referred the matter back to the BBL for substantive consideration, insofar as it had not entered into the request for access to the documents "Irregularities in the Evaluations of the Procurement Figures 2011" of the other six departments apart from the FDF and the Federal Chancellery. In all other respects, it dismissed the complaint as far as it entered into it.
The applicants appealed against this judgment of the Federal Administrative Court to the Federal Supreme Court. They requested unrestricted access to the list of suppliers of the FDF for the year 2011.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that the Public Access to Information Act generally grants a right of access to official documents. However, this right may be restricted by special provisions of other federal laws or by the exceptions of the Public Access to Information Act itself.
The Federal Supreme Court denied that the Procurement Act or the Federal Statistics Act provide a basis for the…