It is commonly argued that public institutions resist the advance of transparency, while civil society organisations (CSOs) are expected to advocate for more generous transparency laws that allow them to better participate in decision-making. Remarkably, the way in which transparency developed in the Environment Council at least partially contradicts both claims. Here, the Council oversaw a steady expansion in the formal transparency policy framework, without notable resistance from the Council or its members. Yet from the outset, CSOs hardly made use of their transparency rights to obtain access. This article seeks an explanation for this apparently anomalous development in informal norms. Applying a qualitative case-study analysis of multiple data sources, it demonstrates how informal norms develop alongside the formal access regime, implicating external actors, serving diverse and at times contradictory objectives, and showing a dynamic character over time. The findings highlight the indispensability of informality for understanding formal transparency policies.

中文翻译：

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在欧盟获取环境信息：一项没人需要的伟大政策？

人们普遍认为，公共机构抵制提高透明度，而民间社会组织 (CSO) 则应倡导更慷慨的透明度法律，使他们能够更好地参与决策。值得注意的是，环境委员会提高透明度的方式至少部分地与这两种说法相矛盾。在这方面，理事会监督了正式透明度政策框架的稳步扩展，没有受到理事会或其成员的明显抵制。然而，从一开始，公民社会组织就几乎没有利用他们的透明度权利来获得访问权。本文寻求对非正式规范中这种明显异常发展的解释。应用对多个数据源的定性案例研究分析，它展示了非正式规范如何与正式访问制度一起发展，涉及外部参与者，服务于不同且有时相互矛盾的目标，并随着时间的推移表现出动态的特征。调查结果强调了非正式性对于理解正式透明度政策的必要性。