The coal mine declared almost every piece of information a trade secret, the Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES) restricted access to the names of employees engaged under contracts, and the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) is hiding key information about a multi-million-euro deal of direct interest to citizens, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) announced today.
As announced by MANS, on the occasion of September 28, International Public Right to Know Day, Montenegro marks two decades since the introduction of the right to free access to information into its legal system.
"This day is celebrated around the world to remind people that the public's right to know is a fundamental human right and a key prerequisite for every democratic state. The adoption of the Law on Free Access to Information (FOI Law) in 2005 paved the way for building a mechanism that enables citizens, civil society and the media to control the work of the government and actively participate in public life. Over the past 20 years of its application, this right has proven to be one of the most important tools in the fight against corruption, misuse of public resources and non-transparent work of state institutions," the statement said.
However, according to them, practice shows that the path to full openness and accountability of institutions is still not complete.
"Numerous cases indicate that certain state institutions and branches of government continue to resist transparency and withhold information of key importance to the public. Of particular concern is the fact that data on the spending of state money, which should be most accessible to citizens, is most often hidden behind various excuses and illegal restrictions. This prevents citizens from knowing how common resources are managed and from effectively controlling the work of the government. In recent years, MANS has been and remains the largest contributor to the development of practice in the application of the SPI Law, primarily thanks to the service for supporting citizens and journalists in exercising this right. The 'Ask the Institutions' platform, as well as the accompanying smartphone application, allow users to fully exercise their right to access information held by the government without prior legal knowledge. Over time, the application has become a significant journalistic tool for creating news and investigative stories - in the past year alone, thanks to information obtained through the SPI service, over 60 texts on topics of public interest were published," the statement reads.
MANS said that, through the SPI application, citizens most often requested information from the Clinical Center of Montenegro, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Administration, the Agency for Construction and Development of Podgorica, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Health Insurance Fund, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, and the General Secretariat of the Government of Montenegro.
As they said, when it comes to state-owned companies, the most common requests were related to the Electric Power Company of Montenegro, the Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System - CEDIS, the Public Company for Coastal Zone Management, the Post of Montenegro, Radio Television of Montenegro, Airports of Montenegro, Monteput, Montenegro bonus and EPCG "Solar-gradnja".
"Overall, after five years of the application's existence, more than 60 percent of requests sent by MANS to state institutions come from citizens, journalists and other users of the service. This confirms that this tool is not only an important support for transparency, but also a key mechanism for empowering the public to actively exercise its right to know. One of the sectors in which the public's right to information is most often put to the test is the energy sector, since these are state-owned enterprises that manage resources of strategic importance and dispose of enormous public funds. It is precisely in this segment that certain advances are clearly visible, but also numerous problems that show that transparency has not yet become the rule, but that the fight for the public's right to know is being waged in almost every procedure," the MANS statement reads.
MANS points out that over the past years, the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) has often withheld information about employment, citing the protection of personal data, while the Coal Mine declared almost every piece of information a business secret, and the Montenegrin Electricity Transmission System (CGES) restricted access to the names of employees engaged under contracts.
They added that these companies were the subject of frequent suspicions of political recruitment, so their persistent concealment of information only further reinforced the perception that state resources were being used for partisan purposes.
"Although certain progress has been noted after the interventions of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information, practice shows that obstacles are still being maintained. The most illustrative example is EPCG and the multi-million deal with the Austrian company Ivicom Holding GmbH. This involves a series of contracts - from joint project development (2019), through the acquisition of shares and capital increase (2021), to the shareholder agreement under which EPCG took over 100% ownership of Green Gvozd, a project worth around 61 million euros for the construction of a wind farm. In response to requests from the NGO MANS to publish the contracts, EPCG invoked business secrets, commercial sensitivity and confidentiality clauses. This hides from the public exactly what is most important: the financial structure, ownership arrangements, obligations and risks assumed by the state-owned company," MANS states.
The NGO said that the bottom line is that EPCG, although a public company, is hiding key information about a multi-million dollar deal of direct interest to citizens.
"Such a practice seriously undermines trust and shows how important it is for the new law on free access to information to provide clear and unambiguous rules that will prevent the abuse of the institute of "business secrets". A similar example comes from the Podgorica Landfill, which refused to provide data on the destruction of seized cigarettes in the Port of Bar, including a list of machines and contracts for its own engagement, citing the secrecy label 'internal'. This denies the public insight into who, how and under what conditions performs work of obvious public interest, which prevents any control of this process and further undermines trust in the work of institutions," the statement points out.
MANS explains that the Ministry of Energy and Mining refused to publish the opinion of the international law firm engaged in the process of terminating the contract for the Brskovo mine, also declaring the document "internal".
"In this way, citizens are denied insight into legal arguments paid for with public money, even though this is a procedure of great public importance. Referring to the 'harm test' without a specific explanation shows the continued practice of hiding key information behind a secrecy label," the statement reads.
They said that the right to free access to information is internationally recognized as one of the fundamental human rights and is an integral part of European legal and democratic standards, adding that Montenegro, as a candidate country for membership in the European Union, has an obligation to improve its practice in this area and to demonstrate that it is ready to hold the government accountable to citizens.
"The draft new law brings several key improvements. First of all, it envisages a significant increase in the amount of information that institutions will be obliged to proactively publish, especially when it comes to data concerning the spending of public funds. This would improve the transparency of government work and reduce the need for lengthy procedures for obtaining information. It also removes business secrets as a basis for restricting access to information, thus preventing the misuse of this institute in concealing data of public importance. In addition, public officials will be exempt from the protection of privacy and tax secrecy for the entire duration of the obligation to submit reports to the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, thus enabling citizens to have full insight into their income and assets," the statement said.
MANS also said that the Bill introduces the institute of a controller, who will oversee the implementation of the law and monitor the work of institutions in this area.
"The Data Protection Agency will receive expanded powers - it will be able to issue misdemeanor orders and initiate proceedings against violators, but also to enforce decisions on free access to information, thus ensuring the full implementation of the law in practice. The adoption of such a law would be an important step forward towards strengthening democracy, government control and the protection of the public interest. MANS therefore appeals to the members of the Montenegrin Parliament to adopt the Draft Law on SPI, which has passed the complete parliamentary procedure, without delay, because it is time for Montenegro to receive the law it deserves - and for citizens to have many more opportunities to hold the government accountable," the statement concludes.
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