A/HRC/7/21 page 16 (c) Asia-Pacific 55. The Ministerial Declaration on Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, of 1990, affirms the right of individuals and non-governmental organizations to be informed of environmental problems relevant to them, to have the necessary access to information, and to participate in the formulation and implementation of decisions likely to affect their environment (A/CONF.151/PC/38, para. 27). (d) Latin America and Caribbean States 56. Article 13 (1) of the American Convention on Human Rights of 1969 states that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one’s choice”. 57. Principle 4 of the Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2000, specifically recognizes that “access to information held by the State is a fundamental right of every individual. States have the obligation to guarantee the full exercise of this right. This principle allows only exceptional limitations that must be previously established by law in case of a real and imminent danger that threatens national security in democratic societies”. 58. On 10 June 2003, the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly adopted a resolution on access to public information: strengthening democracy. In its resolution, OAS considers that access to public information is a requisite for the very functioning of democracy, greater transparency, and good governance. It also reaffirms that everyone has the freedom to seek, receive, have access to and impart information and that access to public information is a requisite for the very exercise of democracy. (e) Europe 59. In article 10 (1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950, the Council of Europe states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, a right that includes freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 60. Article 11 (1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in 2000 by the European Union explicitly guarantees the right to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of frontiers. 61. For the European Union, the principle of openness was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1991; the Council and the Commission then adopted a code of conduct on public access to their documents. In 1996, public right of access was enshrined in article 255 of the Treaty, establishing the European Community as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001, which became applicable in December 2001, gave effect to the right of European Union citizens to obtain documents of the European Parliament, Council and