The loudest "silence" since the law was passed: Alarming data from the AZLP report on free access to information

Last year, non-governmental organizations, citizens, media, businesses and others submitted 6.787 requests for free access to information to government bodies.

This is shown in the annual report of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information. According to the Agency, 2.850 requests were approved, 1.955 were rejected, and 1.001 were partially approved.

Most requests were sent to ministries and municipalities, while a smaller number were sent to the administration, judiciary, state-owned companies, public institutions and the Government. Almost 200 requests for information were sent to agencies, prosecutors' offices and institutes.

Statistics show that the largest number of individual requests (269) were sent to the Ministry of Health. Citizens addressed their requests to the Government 254 times, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 250 times, and the Ministry of Finance, or Tax Administration, 239 times.

219 requests were sent to the Ministry of Defense, 217 to the "Mladost" Secondary Mixed School in Tivat, and 213 to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs.

Non-governmental organizations submitted 59 percent of the total number of requests for free access to information - 4.010, while citizens submitted 2.194. The media sent 172 requests, and companies 210.

The agency decided on 6.717 appeals and approved more than half of them. The report states that 2.374 appeals were approved due to violations of procedural rules, or the silence of the administration.

"Analysis of data relating to cases of administrative silence has recorded the largest growth trend since the beginning of the application of the law, and that the number of accepted appeals due to violation of procedural rules is 2.374, while the number of rejected appeals due to violation of procedural rules, i.e. where it was determined in the procedure that there was no silence, is 514, while the number of suspended procedures is 1.332 because the party was satisfied with the subsequently issued decision," the report states.

The Agency concludes that decisions were made in 4.220 cases of administrative silence, which is a growing trend that must be recognized as an alarm.

"The lack of promptness in acting and making decisions has resulted in a growing trend of complaints filed, which, due to mandatory legal procedures, require time and lead to dissatisfaction among users of the mechanism for requesting free access to information," the report shows.

The Agency says that complaints are often filed due to non-submission or partial submission of data from employee payrolls, where through established case law they indicate to first-instance authorities and complainants that the gross amount must be submitted, the name and surname of the employed person, the amount of salary increase on various grounds, whether it is an allowance due to inspection supervision, a variable part of the salary, access to secret data, and mandatory data protection regarding the net amount of salary, deductions on various grounds, such as union membership, political party membership, deductions for alimony, credit debt and all deductions from salaries and in the final JMBG of citizens and bank accounts.

Among other things, they claim that the Agency Council, when deciding on the matter of free access to information, also dealt with the balance between the public's right to know, the protection of confidential data, and the establishment of standards for the protection of personal data.

"A trade secret in accordance with prescribed and recognized standards is often recognized by first-instance authorities as a basis for an unfounded refusal because various types of Rules and bylaws cannot be a basis for refusing the right to free access to information," the Agency concludes.

"Analysis of data relating to cases of administrative silence has recorded the largest growth trend since the beginning of the application of the law, and that the number of accepted complaints due to violation of procedural rules is 2.374, while the number of rejected complaints due to violation of procedural rules, i.e. where it was determined in the procedure that there was no silence, is 514, while the number of suspended procedures is 1.332 because the party was satisfied with the subsequently issued decision," the report emphasized.

59 percent of the total number of requests for free access to information - 4.010 - were submitted by non-governmental organizations, while citizens submitted 2.194. The media sent 172 requests, and companies 210.