-25- 57(19) The State provided Mr. Claude Reyes and Mr. Longton Guerrero with the information corresponding to sections 1, 2, 4 and 5 of the original request for information orally and in writing (supra para. 57(13)).31 57(20) On April 3, 2006, the Executive Vice President of the Foreign Investment Committee at the time when Mr. Claude Reyes submitted his request for information, stated during the public hearing held before the Inter-American Court, inter alia, that he had not provided the requested information: (a) On section 3 (supra para. 57(13)), because “the Foreign Investment Committee […] did not disclose the company’s financial data, since providing this information was contrary to the public interest,” which was “the country’s development.” “It was not reasonable that foreign companies applying to the Foreign Investment Committee should have to disclose their financial information in this way; information that could be very important to them in relation to their competitors; hence, this could have been an obstacle to the foreign investment process.” It was the Foreign Investment Committee’s practice not to provide a company’s financial data that could affect its competitiveness to third parties. The Committee and the Vice President defined what was in the public interest; (b) On section 6 (supra para. 57(13)), because information on the background material that the Committee could request from other institutions “did not exist” and the Committee “does not having policing functions”; and c) On section 7 (supra para. 57(13)), because “the Foreign Investment Committee had neither the responsibility nor the capacity to evaluate each project on its merits; it had a staff of just over 20 persons. Furthermore, this was not necessary, since the role of the Foreign Investment Committee is to authorize the entry of capitals and the corresponding terms and conditions, and the country had an institutional framework for each sector.”32 Concerning the practice of the Vice Presidency of the Foreign Investment Committee with regard to providing information 57(21) Up until 2002, the Executive Vice Presidency of the Foreign Investment Committee “followed the criteria of providing only its own information.” Its practice was not to provide information on the financial statements of an investment company or the 30 Cf. Report presented by the State to the Inter-American Commission on June 30, 2005 (file before the Commission, volume I, folio 221); and final arguments brief submitted to the Court by the State on May 18, 2006 (file on merits, reparations, and costs, volume IV, folio 1264). 31 Cf. Facsimile letter of May 19, 1998, from the Executive Vice President of the Foreign Investment Committee to Marcel Claude Reyes (file of appendixes to the application, appendix 2, folio 48); testimony given by Marcel Claude Reyes before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on April 3, 2006; testimony given by Eduardo Moyano Berríos before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on April 3, 2006; and application brief presented by the Inter-American Commission (file on merits, reparations, and costs, volume I, folio 54). 32 Cf. Testimony given by Eduardo Moyano Berríos before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on April 3, 2006.