Bilbao leads in transparency among Spanish ports

(Posted on 17/10/25)

The Bilbao Port Authority has obtained the highest score in the second evaluation of the Mandatory Information Compliance Indicator, putting Bilbao, together with the Valencia Port Authority, at the forefront of transparency among the Spanish state ports of general interest. The commitment of the Port of Bilbao to transparency and good governance has consolidated its position as a benchmark in compliance with legal obligations and in the introduction of voluntary practices that strengthen public confidence in public institutions.

The results obtained are not only better than that achieved in the first evaluation in March 2024 (with a score of 81%), but also higher than the average score of all Port Authorities, which stands at 50%. Conducted by the Council of Transparency and Good Governance, this evaluation measures the degree of compliance with the active disclosure obligations applicable under Law 19/2013 on transparency, access to public information and good governance (LTAIBG, as per its acronym in Spanish), to which various groups such as Port Authorities are subject, within the group known as 'State Institutional Public Sector Entities'.

The evaluation is conducted following the MESTA (Methodology for the Evaluation and Monitoring of Transparency in Public Activity) methodology, analysing the degree to which mandatory content has been disclosed as well as compliance with the criteria regarding the form of disclosure and a series of quality criteria applicable to the information published, as established under the LTAIBG. These include content, form, structure, accessibility, clarity, possibility of reuse and updating.

In addition to compliance with active disclosure obligations, the Council of Transparency and Good Governance has also evaluated other aspects, such as the information that ther Port of Bilbao discloses voluntarily and the introduction of good practices. In this sense, the evaluation body highlighted in its conclusions the initiatives taken by the Port Authority to improve its transparency, such as the publication of information on personnel of confidence, anti-fraud plans, codes of conduct and data on subsidies and public grants received.

In terms of good practices, the Port has been recognised for the publication of statistics on requests for information received. The percentage of public information requests received by the Port Authority that are resolved stands at 100%, with almost 90% of resolutions being favourable, compared to the percentage of favourable resolutions in the General State Administration which stands at 62% at the end of August 2025, according to data collected on the Transparency Portal of the General State Administration.