4th MEETING OF THE INITIATIVE 2020

12.-13. October 2023, Dubrovnik

The members of the Initiative 2020, at their 4th regular Annual meeting held in Dubrovnik on October 12 and 13, 2023, discussed the achieved standards of proceedings of national institutions in charge of the right to access to information, open issues on the application of this right to individual requests and proactive publishing of information. Special emphasis was put on the problem of "administrative silence" and abuse of the right to access information.

Members of Initiative 2020 issue

JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT

1. To ensure the correct and efficient application of this right, the obligees of the Law regulating the right to access information are recommended to fully and consistently apply the achieved and confirmed standards of the national institutions responsible for the supervision and protection of the rights in this field.

2. "Administrative silence" derogates the citizens' right to access information of public importance. The legal system should find effective mechanisms for sanctioning responsible persons in public authorities who often ignore citizens' demands.

3. Abuse of the right to access information by malicious applicants significantly burdens the work of public authorities and directly harms the practicing of the right to access information. Those requests aim not to ensure transparency, openness, and government control, but to disrupt the work of public authorities for such requests have lucrative goals. Such behavior is inadmissible, and extremely damaging to the right to access information, turning it into its opposite.

Therefore, in the national framework, it is necessary to legally regulate the institute of abuse of the right to access to information, that is, unfair use of the right.

4. The next meeting of Initiative 2020 will be held in 2024 in Montenegro.

MEMBERS OF THE INITIATIVE 2020

Dubrovnik, October 13, 2023.