The Parliamentary Committee on the Political System, Judiciary, and Administration held a consultative hearing on the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information. Our representative, Marko Sošić, highlighted the challenges we face in exercising this right due to government bodies using the Law to conceal information or hinder access. Unfortunately, much of the discussion in the Committee focused on the abuses by individuals, lawyers, and some organisations that, through numerous requests before the Agency and the Administrative Court, gain financial profit, instead of addressing the restrictions on access to information caused by the authorities themselves.
This is the fourth time in four years that different versions of this law have reached Parliament, and for various reasons, their consideration has been postponed by either archiving or withdrawing them.
Together with colleagues from MANS, we previously highlighted certain provisions in the proposed law that should be improved. On the other hand, it is crucial to finally adopt these amendments, and two innovations are key for us: the expanded scope of proactive disclosure of information and additional regulation of access restrictions, through the introduction of the harm test for both business and tax secrecy.
At the committee session, we warned of the harmful effects on access to information brought by the 2017 amendments to the Law, particularly regarding the introduction of the business and tax secrecy provisions.
You can watch the entire discussion here.
