Law on Free Access to Information Adopted

25 January 2006

The Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia adopted the Law on Free Access to Public Information. The Law elaborates the Constitutional principle that guarantees the free access to information and freedom to receive and transmit information, as well as the principle of public operations of holders of information.

The Government accepted the major objections presented by the nongovernmental organizations and intervened in the proposed draft. Transparency Macedonia and ProMedia reacted last week over the fact that the Draft lacked provisions on establishment of independent commission and protection of �whistleblowers�.

The Law entitles the employees of the state administration to give out information in public with the intent to expose cases of corruption, contribute to public health or environmental protection. Such employees shall be exempt from the responsibility for giving out administrative and state secrets and confidential information.

The Law also provides for the establishment of five-member Commission for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Information. The Commission will be independent in its operations and decisions, withing the legal limits and competences defined by the Law. The Commission will be financed from the state Budget.
The holders of information shall prepare lists of information, in order to inform the information seekers. The holders of information will also be obliged to provide access to by-laws, programmes, strategies and other documents within their scope of work.
The civic association, however, dispute Article 6 of the Law, which provides the institutions with the right to hide information in nine cases, which are subject to differences in interpretation.

Klime Babunski from ProMedia believes that the whole problem lies in the first paragraph of Article 6, which exempts whole categories of information. In his view, the exemptions should be restricted, few and apart.

"The number of companies owned by the members of the family of the Prime Minister is not private information, having in mind the public office that the PM holds. All documents held by the Ministry of Defence are related, by default, to matters of defence. Does everything constitute a state secret? Party leaders holding offices of the state have been known to conduct party business with public money. The Law would introduce for a much stricter control�, says Babunski.

Zoran Jacev from Transparency says that the exemptions are rather vague, but are acceptable. In his mind, the Law is fine, but the implementation will depend, ultimately, on whether the Government express the political will to implement it fully.

The entry into force of the Law on Free Access to Information has been postponed from 1 July to 1 September 2006.