Mar Menor FOI Request (Germany): Federal Ministry for the Environment BMUKN

Summary

On 19 September 2025, the Spanish ecosystem Mar Menor submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment. The saltwater lagoon was represented by a citizen pursuant to Article 6 of the Mar Menor Act (Ley 19/2022). The request was ultimately accepted; however, the German Ministry did not treat the ecosystem as applicant.

Freedom of Information Request
Mar Menor requested access to all documents relating to the rights of nature covering the period from September 2024–2025. The request was based on section 3 of the German Environmental Information Act, among other provisions.

Mar Menor also requested that the German Ministry explicitly confirm that it recognizes the ecosystem’s legal personality and status as a subject of law entitled to fundamental rights. To support this claim, the legal representative noted that the ecosystem is a foreign legal entity established under Spanish law, and according to a 2011 Federal Constitutional Court decision (1 BvR 1916/09), legal entities from other European Union Member States are holders of fundamental rights under Article 19(3) of the German Basic Law. Based on this reasoning, Mar Menor contended that foreign legal entities must not be discriminated against on the grounds of nationality—pursuant to Article 3 of the German Basic Law, Article 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Environmental Information Act Decision
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) sent a decision to the legal representative of Mar Menor on 11 November 2025, granting access to the following documents:

• Preparation of the IUCN World Conservation Congress
• Excerpts of correspondence on EU coordination for the Ramsar Convention
• Excerpt from the Plenary Record of the German Bundestag
• Feedback on “Rights of Nature” from the government review of the “Scoping Report for a second global assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem Services”

The documents relating to EU coordination for the Ramsar Convention highlighted that Germany takes a critical view of the rights of nature concept. In correspondence dated 7 January 2025, the German authority noted on the rights of nature in wetlands:

“It is difficult for the EU to support the DR [draft resolution] as currently drafted. As the concept, its scope and application are not defined in the DR and there is no established international understanding, it is not clear what exactly the ‘rights of nature’ are in this context. The concept of the Rights of Nature is tricky and internationally contested. The EU must be extremely careful during negotiations.”

While access to certain documents was granted, BMUKN denied access to documents revealing the positions of other EU states concerning coordination for the 64th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention. BMUKN invoked section 8(1) of the Environmental Information Act, explaining that disclosure of this information would adversely affect international relations.

BMUKN also did not address Mar Menor’s request for formal recognition as a legal entity, nor did it clarify Mar Menor’s status as the applicant.

Mar Menor Objection
Dissatisfied with its decision, Mar Menor filed an objection with BMUKN on 11 December 2025.

Recognizing Legal Personhood
Mar Menor argued that BMUKN had violated the requirement of certainty according to section 37(1) of the Administrative Procedures Act (VwVfG). Mar Menor emphasized that an administrative act must clearly specify who is materially affected, citing a judgment of the Higher Administrative Court of Saarland (20.02.2017 – 2 A 34/16, paragraph 294). In the case of legal persons like Mar Menor, the ecosystem argued that the decision must explicitly indicate that the legal person itself is the addressee, rather than an individual acting on its behalf. Mar Menor also relied on the Federal Administrative Court’s judgment of 20 March 2024 (BVerwG 6 C 8.22, paras. 58–59), arguing that, in light of the ecosystem’s request to be recognized as a legal person and subject of rights, BMUKN was required to determine ex officio whether Mar Menor qualifies as a “person” within the meaning of section 3(1) UIG, as this constitutes a prerequisite for entitlement to access to environmental information.

Access to Ramsar Convention Documents
Mar Menor further argued that denying access to information on the EU coordination for the Ramsar Convention was disproportionate because public interest outweighs any non-disclosure interest. To underline the urgency of disclosure, Mar Menor referred to the Ramsar Global Wetland Outlook 2025, noting that approximately 22% of wetlands have been lost globally since 1970, with an ongoing annual decline of 0.52%.

BMUKN Objection Decision
On 19 February 2026, BMUKN rejected the objection as inadmissible, on the grounds that the fax transmission to the BMUKN had not been successful. Even if it were admissible, the Ministry stated that there is no entitlement to a statement on the “recognition” of the Mar Menor and its basin.

BMUKN stated that, contrary to Mar Menor’s arguments, the requirement of certainty under VwVfG had not been violated since “the decision is clearly addressed to you” [as a natural person]. BMUKN said this form of addressing is sufficient, since Article 6 of the Spanish Law 19/2022 provides for a form of “actio popularis” (representation by anyone) and does not establish a specific statutory power of representation, such as that of company management.

e) Even if the Mar Menor and its basin were, in principle, capable of being a party to proceedings in Germany, your authority to represent it would be limited by Article 6 of Spanish Law 19/2022, according to which the power of representation for “any person” concerns the assertion of the rights of the Mar Menor and its basin for the purpose of defending that ecosystem. […] A relevant case constellation would likely include requests and legal remedies in connection with discharges into the Mar Menor and its basin. By contrast, a request for access to information concerning “rights of nature” in general – particularly in another state – would not fall within the scope of the power of representation under Article 6 of Spanish Law 19/2022.

f) Even if you had acted as a representative of the Mar Menor and its basin and had to be treated as such in administrative proceedings in Germany, the Mar Menor and its basin would in any event have obtained access to the requested information through the disclosure of the documents to you. The aforementioned UIG decision explicitly pointed out the entitlement to pass on the disclosed documents. Accordingly, no prejudice arises in this respect.

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