Administrative Law in the EU member states is largely pre-determined by EU law. The concept of ‘informed public’ plays an important role in this context. In this respect, the access to environmental information has an important function. The conditions of the right of access to information are driven by developments in European law: The entitlement to environmental information has a broad scope; the term ‘environmental information’ has to be interpreted extensively and the number of authorities that are required to provide information is significant. The reasons for refusing to provide information are also pre-determined by EU law: They address the protection of public policy considerations and private interests. This article analyses the impact of EU law and international law on the German environmental information law.