2. The right of access to personal** documents is restricted to the person to whom the personal data refers and to third parties who can demonstrate direct and personal interest, in terms of the next article. 3. The right of access to documents held by public bodies includes not only the right to obtain reproductions thereof, but also the right to be informed of the existence and the contents thereof. 4. Where documents held by public bodies are kept in archives, this shall not at any time hinder the exercise of the right of access to such documents. 5. Access to documents that form part of unfinished court proceedings or to documents produced in the preparation of a court ruling shall be deferred until the ruling has been taken, the proceedings have been shelved or a year after they were first produced. 6. Access to inquests and inquiries shall be permitted only after the expiry of the period for possible disciplinary proceedings. 7. Access to documents within the domain of notaries or public registers, documents on an individual’s civilian identity and criminal records, documents concerning automatically processed personal data, as well as documents kept in historical archives is governed by separate legislation. Article 8 (Access to personal documents)4 1. The right to access personal data contained in documents held by public bodies* is exercised with the necessary adaptations in terms of the law applicable to the authorised handling of personal data. 2. Information of a medical nature is communicated to the applicant only through a medical intermediary elected by the applicant. 3. Access by third parties to personal data can further be authorised in the following cases: a) by means of a written authorisation from the person to whom the data applies; b) when communicating personal data has the objective of safeguarding the legitimate interest of the person to whom the data applies should the latter not be in a position to concede authorisation, and once an opinion has been obtained as provided for in the previous number. 4. Documents containing personal data can further be communicated to third parties when, by their nature, it is possible to delete the personal data without having to recreate the documents and without the danger of easy identification. Article 9 4 The Term “documentos nominativos” [nominative documents], meaning ‘relating to a name’ – i.e. Ben Silver – I’ve translated as “personal documents”. Further occurrences of this are indicated by the double-asterisk **