ACTIVITIES > accountability programme in the western balkans > Survey – Testing the Implementation of Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance

Transparency Serbia

Survey – Testing the Implementation of Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance

Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance was enacted in November 2004, and all institutions obliged by the Law (state institutions, institutions of the autonomous provinces and local governances, public enterprises, etc.) had to appoint officials to deal with the free access to information requests by 13 th of December.

Cosidering the Law as an essential institution for the creation of the new relationship between citizens and government, realization of good governance principles, and above all fight against corruption, Transparency Serbia decided to conduct the survey in order to test Law implementation. The survey was conducted during December 2004 and January 2005 as a part of the “Accountability in Western Balkans”, regional project which targets Serbia , Bosnia and Hertzegovina , Macedonia and Croatia . Project is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Following the tasks of the project mentioned, Transparency Serbia has already organized series of conferences, specialized workshops and roundtables, prepared various comments and amendments to the various laws proposals and conducted researches on public opinion. In addition, all interested have been able to monitor articles on free access to information from domestic newspapers and magazines at our web-site on regular basis.

Law enforcement is a weak link in institutions building, not only in Serbia , but in transition economies in general. By appointing Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Parliament of Serbia fulfilled only one of preconditions necessary for Law enforcement. Beside the obligations connected with Commissioner's work, there are set of activities which are necessary to be conducted by the “authorities”. Attitude to the Law's obligations accomplishment greatly determines the extent in which will the citizens, journalists and other stakeholders use their right to free access to information.

Bearing in mind experiences from the states which have already adopted similar legal frameworks, Transparency Serbia seeks the opportunities for testing the extent of authorities' seriousness in accomplishing obligations prescripted by the Law. Of course, it was impossible to check all institutions which are obliged to act according to the Law provisions, so TS chose the sample comprised of 151 state institutions, institutions of the autonomous provinces and local governances, public enterprises and state agencies.

Transparency Serbia made a request for free access to information, faccording to the Law provisions and seeking following information:

1. Has the institution already appointed one ore several people which would deal with free access to information issues and have they already started to work?
2. Do the appointed officials have occupation other than dealing with free access to information issues and what are the terms provided with regulation papers for their employment?
3. Were there any trainings connected with proper implementation of provisions of Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance?
4. Has the institution already prepared an assesment on resources needed for an adequate Law implementation?
5. Which kind of information can be found at Internet presentation of the institution in question? How does the institution update the information at its web – site, and provide authenticity and completion of the published data?

Requests were sent during December 2004 to various adresses in Belgrade , Novi Sad , Nis and Kragujevac. Deadline for the reply from the institutions was 15 days after they had received the request. Since there is almost a month from the day when TS sent its last request, it can be claimed with great certainty that the data collected represent current status in enforcement of Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interests in all institutions and in Serbia in general. Transparency Serbia has received answers only from 23 institutions (approximately 15% of total number). The very structure of the answers, as well as other interesting indicators from the survey will be presented at the press conference, which will take place at Transparency Serbia's offices, on 20 th of January 2005, beginning at 11:00 hours.

Transparency Serbia is aware of the fact that challenges which follow the institutions in implementation of Law provisions are relatively new and that the institutions need more time to apply articles from the Law in practice properly. In that sense, Transparency Serbia sincerely hopes that the Request for free access to information gave significant contribution, as a reminder, even to those institutions which didn't answer to our request till deadline. In addition, TS seeks to provoke more serious approach in this important Law's enforcement.

In Belgrade ,

19. 01. 2005.

Transparency Serbia

ACTIVITIES > accountability programme in the western balkans > Survey – Testing the Implementation of Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance